sciendias

Any idea why the management ignored warnings that v4 was going to be bad?

If you think that's the case, perhaps you should reconsider your line of research. There's pretty substantial evidence that AMKEs are in decline (in the east anyway). Some have hypothesized that when we really started paying attention to bird populations was also when the forests were at their lowest (because of logging). Kestrels like open habitat. With the resurgence of forests in the east (think acres and acres of secondary growth) leaves the kestrel with relatively little habitat (and Cooper's hawks, a predators of kestrels, with more habitat). So one hypothesis is that while kestrel populations are declining, they are really just returning to a historic level after some pretty phenomenal years. There are other hypotheses relating to habitat loss and pesticides and a plethora of other variables which also have merit - but to just deny and allude to scientific conspiracies for money..... that's just naive of the process. Mr Pollard is obviously no scientist - and you both should read peer-reviewed literature (e.g., this).

Significant others. Imprinted birds will see humans as potential mates, and particularly the person doing most of the handling often becomes the focus of that. It's something that doesn't generally happened with wild-reared birds because wild-reared birds retain some of that fear/respect of people. They miss that formative window when they develop the image of a mate. That's why biologists continually hammer on people to either leave bird chicks alone or bring them to a rehabber. It is not only illegal to raise them yourself (without proper permits), but also dangerous for the bird. Mr. Polard's birds are never meant to be released to the wild, so imprinting isn't really a concern.

Wild birds are a little more protected than other species that aren't threatened/endangered in the US. Native, nongame species fall under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. You can't kill, hurt, disturb, or even keep their feathers (a federal misdemeanor).

No, this is a violation of federal law (Migratory Bird Treaty Act) and likely state law depending on your state.