The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reporting today the second shooting in a month of a bald eagle in Tennessee. The dead raptor was found last month east of Crossville, in the Crab Orchard community, and was determined by a veterinarian to have been shot. (The first eagle death was reported in Bledsoe County, about 30 miles away from the latest one.) According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, "While bald eagles were taken off the Endangered Species Act in 2007 after a successful national recovery effort, they are protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, both federal wildlife statutes. Violations of these statutes carry maximum criminal penalties of up to $100,000 and/or one year in federal prison." There is an $8,500 reward for information on either shooting. Tennessee currently has about 140 breeding pairs of bald eagles.
Casey Mullen of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency holds a dead bald eagle found shot in Cumberland County Tennessee on Feb 18, 2011. This is the second bald eagle killed in Tennessee in less than a month. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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