An adult bald eagle was found shot and killed January 23rd near Prosser in Benton County, Washington.
State officials contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Office of Law Enforcement in Richland after road crews discovered the dead eagle along Griffin Road, south of the Johnson Road intersection. Forensic examination revealed the eagle had been shot.
Special Agents are investigating, and a reward of up to $1,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of the person or persons responsible. Anyone with information about the eagles death is asked to call Special Agent Corky Roberts at 509/375-6202.
This shooting is one of numerous eagle shootings in eastern Washington in recent years.
Bald eagles are federally protected under the Endangered Species Act as a threatened species throughout the lower 48 U.S. states and it is illegal to harm or kill them. They also are protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Wildlife experts believe there may have been 100,000 nesting bald eagles in the lower 48 states when the bird was adopted as our national symbol in 1782. Since that time, the bald eagle has suffered from habitat destruction and degradation, illegal shooting, and contamination of its food source, most notably due to the pesticide DDT. By the early 1960s there were fewer than 450 bald eagle nesting pairs in the lower 48 states.
The Service estimates there are now more than 7,000 pairs of bald eagles in the lower 48 U.S. states and has proposed removing the bald eagle from the protections of the Endangered Species Act due to its recovery. Since proposing delisting in 1999, the Service has spent time responding to the public comments received to determine the best ways to manage for the species once it is removed. Should the bald eagle be removed from the list of threatened and endangered species, it will be managed under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses 542 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
