$5,000 Reward for information on Bald Eagle shot in Rocky Hill

$5,000 Reward for Information on Bald Eagle Shot in Rocky Hill

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Environmental Conservation Police and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are asking the public for information about a bald eagle that was shot in Rocky Hill. The Humane Society of the United States and The Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust are offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible.

On December 13, a citizen reported a dead eagle on Great Meadow Road in Rocky Hill in the area of the Connecticut River. The recently killed immature bald eagle was sent to the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Oregon where a preliminary examination indicated that the eagle’s injuries were caused by gunshot.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement and State Environmental Conservation Police are jointly investigating the incident. Bald and Golden Eagles are protected under federal law by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The bald eagle is also listed as a threatened species under the State of Connecticut’s Endangered Species Act.

The Humane Society of the United States and The Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust works with state and federal wildlife agencies to offer rewards of $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of suspected poachers.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Environmental Conservation Police’s Emergency Dispatch Center at 860-424-3333 or toll free at 1-800-842-4357 or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent at 860-871-8348.

I've shared this with a few friends in the Wethersfield Game Club that know a lot of what goes on on the property in that area... Hopefully they catch whoever is responsible!

Thanks Blain.

Who in Their right mind would shoot a Bald Eagle......everytime I'm lucky enough to see one, they stop me in my tracks and I keep watching until I can't see it anymore. Unfreakin believable. Hope you catch this scumbag!

one bad apple giving all hunters a bad rep!!

argh!

X2

Unbelievable! Why?

Some people should not own a gun. There is a mental case on the loose and I would love nothing more that to hear someone babbling about it. 5 g's ain't bad either.

We have had an eagle buzz our spread of geese in Rocky Hill a couple times last year, hope it wasn't him.

I hope they catch the jerk that did this. If I hear anything at all I will notify Encon.

If a gunshot was the cause, what type of projectile was used? Rifle, bird shot, slug, buck shot? It's a start.

Boy, there never seems to be a shortage of jerks, and once again, they've lowered the bar. Just amazing the sorts of trash that's out there.

Why shoot an eagle? They don't taste much better than a spotted owl?!

I'll up the anti by $100 of they catch this jerk - unbelievable. Anyone else want to kick in???

On another note - saw two bald eagles sitting in a tree this morning in the Oxbow area in Northampton MA - just an amazing bird.

we saw them flying all around us to the north of there...........by golly..we didn't shoot one...... we were on the conversation of why this bird was not "found to be shot" here in CT........why did it have to go "ELSEWHERE" to be determined as shot.I mean any moron could see if a bird was hit by a car or shot right????? Or was this another whack against hunters????it was a topic of conversation and one that was due........I mean WTF???.... Danny get an Op to smack one against hunters ?????

whole thing smells like political bullshitski if you ask me.........no offense at ALL Skip.but why couldn';t local officials"determine" it was shot????? any light on this??? Thanks bud...just want a little more input before the retirement party!!!!!

Pretty sure that they are "the" wildlife forensics place in the country. When I was in veterinary school, they were developing and proving tests that nobody else could handle. Their guys are outstanding, unflappable witnesses in court. The best of the best-which means that they are taking this very seriously. Chain of custody for the carcass...has to be signed off on, pathologist...signed every step of the way. If not attorneys for the accused can punch holes in it.

thanks for that insight......just seems strange that officals here int eh state could not determine if it was shot or not..seems pretty elementary to me,I hold NOTHING back from this scummy prick and his agenda.......

Stocked pheasants ain't cheap anymore , and some people can't see the difference between a 3 year old eagle and a hawk .
I doubt there was any conspiracy other than some dimwit who values a ditch chicken over a bird of prey .

Thought that as well, some loser from the big city trying out his just-stolen 9 or 38.

Obviously someone who doesn't know any better or care for that matter.

"Our" eagle was at the field yesterday. So good to see it back out there. He flew
in and landed in a tree at the edge of our goose field. Fully mature, beautiful!

saw it with my own one eye........

I would be in with you Jay. Good idea. I have spent more on less (like most "cod" headboat CTF trips ) It would be nice if CTFers (and other sportsmen) could help up the anti to help find this jerk. One more eagle feather in the cap of the anti-gun mudslingers out there.

Skip: Can the public and organizations like CTF add to the causes "bounty" ?

Excellent - we're up to $5200 then - who else wants to help up the anti to catch this scumbag??? Skip - let us know how we can get the $$$ to the right party.

Chris, there's a process with evidence. We knew it was shot but if the person responsible is caught and arrested, when the case goes to trial the forensic evidence is going to be the key element in the entire case. There is no forensic lab in Connecticut that can do a forensic examination on wildlife and provide expert witnesses to testify in court. If this was a sexual assault, a shooting involving a human, etc., then yes, the Connecticut State Police Forensic Lab would have handled it. But they don't do wildlife cases. They don't have the experts in animal and bird biology. The USF&W Service has the best wildlife forensic lab in the country. Because of the federal nexus of the violation we were able to use their services to conduct a full forensic exam of the bird and their experts will come here to testify in court if needed.

I got a PM requesting info on how you guys could go about adding to the reward amount. I didn't know so I checked with my Colonel. He suggestion was that you have two options. One would be to gather your funds and let us know what you could contribute and we would do an additional press release to inform the public or, you could contact the Humane Society directly and add the money to that fund. He has the contact for the HSUS if you need it.

From my perspective, if CTF comes up with something additional for the reward and you want to go with option #1 where we do a press release, the press release would state that the members of CTfisherman.com added to the reward. I don't know if the Humane Society would do the same or not.

Either way, if you want to do something that I can assist with let me know.

Just so you know HSUS is one of the largest and most powerful anti-hunting orgs in the country. They fund rewards to make hunting look bad. Illegal hunters should look bad and go to jail, but HSUS does everything they can to link legal hunting with illegal actions like killing eagles.

Yup!!!! Beat me to it Tod

X3 - HSUS is against all hunting. And fishing next.

"HSUS knows an attempt to completely ban hunting would never work, politically. Instead, their idea is to label and isolate specific practices within hunting to create emotional media attention to mislead voters, while ignoring scientific facts and conservation needs. Every time a law gets passed to eliminate specific hunting practices, HSUS gets closer and closer to their ultimate goal – the elimination of all hunting."

Do it from CTF....let's get a list going, let's set 12/31/14 as the deadline to committing the $$$ to the cause.

I'll donate $100 towards the reward.

thanks for the Clarification on that Skip'!!!! Merry Christmas everybody!

do they know what type of amunition was used (shot, single bullet, gernade)?