Apr 05, 2006 - 02:07:10 CDT
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the shooting deaths of two bald eagles in southwestern Dickey County in late March or early April.Agents were notified on Saturday by a landowner near Forbes that he had found a dead bald eagle in a harvested field near a county road. A second dead eagle was found about 200 yards away. The investigation revealed that both had been shot, probably within the past 10 days.
A necropsy is being done on both eagles, said Ken Torkelson, a USFWS spokesman in Bismarck.
"Hopefully it will tell us something more than we know now," he said.
Bald eagles are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. The willful and blatant killing of any eagle is considered a violation of those acts, and the maximum penalty for killing an eagle is a $100,000 fine and one year in jail.
Anyone with information regarding the deaths of these eagles is asked to contact the law enforcement branch of the Fish and Wildlife Service in Bismarck at 255-0593 or any North Dakota district game warden. A reward is available for anyone providing information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible. Anyone contributing that information to authorities can remain anonymous.
"We're hoping someone who witnessed this senseless act or knows who is responsible will step forward," Torkelson said.
- Richard Hinton
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