Men accused of killing 3,600 birds including protected eagles

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Two men have been charged for illegally shooting about 3,600 birds, including protected golden and bald eagles and selling their parts in the black market.

The years-long "killing spree" not only contributed to a black market for tail feathers of federally protected birds but also targeted “country’s national symbol", federal prosecutors in Montana said.

Simon Paul, 42 and Travis John Branson, 48, were indicted last week on Thursday with a total of 15 charges, including one count of alleged conspiracy, 13 counts of unlawful trafficking of bald and golden eagles, and one count of violating the federal law, the Lacey Act.

Federal prosecutors said they obtained messages from Mr Branson "telling buyers he was ‘on a killing spree’ to obtain eagle tail feathers for future sales” and that he was “committing felonies".

The two men carried out killings from January 2015 to March 2021 in the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana, according to court records.

“The defendants then illegally sold the eagles on the black market for significant sums of cash across the United States and elsewhere,” prosecutors said in court records.

Mr Paul, who lived near Ronan, Montana, situated on the Flathead Indian Reservation, acted as a “shooter” and “shipper” in the scheme, prosecutors said.

His partner, Mr Branson who is from Cusick, Washington, would travel from the capital to the reserve in Montana to meet Mr Paul who would "help kill, transport and ship bald and golden eagles for future sales on the black market", according to the indictment.

The court papers said that the bald eagle "is not merely a bird of biological interest, but this country’s national symbol, which reflects America’s ideals of freedom”.

"In total, the defendants killed approximately 3,600 birds, including eagles," the indictment said. "The defendants then illegally sold the eagles on the black market for significant sums of cash across the United States and elsewhere."

The two appeared to have a tactic for hunting the eagles, it said, by ways such as killing deer to “lure in eagles”, prosecutors said.

The two men could face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 in conspiracy charges alone if convicted.

The indictment did not specify how many of the 3,600 birds killed were protected.

Bald eagles, the national bird of the US, are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940.

In the mid-20th century, the bald eagle population drastically declined due to the widespread use of the synthetic insecticide DDT, leaving only a few hundred alive.

The bald eagle was delisted from Endangered Species Act protection in 2007 after their population rebound following a ban on DDT in 1972 and other measures.

There are estimated to be 316,700 bald eagles as of 2020, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Services.