Cases involving the shooting of protected birds have increased in recent months in the area. In 29 years of working with injured wildlife, Susan Ahalt, of Ironside Bird Rescue, has previously seen only a few protected birds with bullet wounds. But in the last few months, she’s had five, she said. 

“People can’t just go out and randomly shoot what they want, they are protected birds,” Ahalt said. “It hurts to lose one, but to lose one for no reason is a senseless killing — it was just a senseless killing; it is not fair to the birds.” 

Most recently, South Riverton Game Warden Brad Gibb brought in a bald eagle on Jan. 8 that had been shot and was found injured inside a corral. 

“The landowner had seen it in his corral and it couldn’t fly,” Gibb said. “It just jumped up and sat on the rail.”

The bird couldn’t get too far, since it was inside the corral, so Gibb wrapped it in a blanket and brought it to Ironside Bird Rescue near Cody for treatment with Ahalt. 

Bald eagles are protected by state and federal law, including the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. The killing of any eagle is considered a violation of those acts and is a serious offense, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Penalties would be up to the judge, said Terry Thibeault, resident agent in charge for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for Montana and Wyoming. As a misdemeanor, violating the act would mean up to a year in jail and a maximum fine of up to $15,000. Shooting an eagle could be charged under either of the acts; if someone shoots more than one eagle it could be considered a felony, Thibeault said.

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is aware of the recent killing of a bald eagle near Riverton,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service public affairs specialist Ryan Moehring in an email to the Powell Tribune. Although shooting a bald eagle is a federal violation, Wyoming Game and Fish is cordinating with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the investigation. 

It was difficult to determine when the bald eagle was shot, but it probably occurred around the first of the year, he said. The eagle was a few pounds underweight, suggesting it hadn’t eaten much due to its shotgun wound.

Unfortunately, what the bird had managed to eat led to its death — lead fragments from another shot animal. 

“The shot itself wasn’t going to hurt him, it was in his chest and just in the tissue,” Ahalt said. 

Ahalt speculated the eagle, named Hub, had ingested bullet fragments from a rabbit and the lead fragments leached into the bird’s system, giving him lead poisoning. Hub eventually went blind, was unable to stand and had to be put down, she said. 

Ahalt is currently caring for a red-tailed hawk that was shot near Worland and a rough-legged hawk that was shot near Riverton, she said. 

Red-tailed hawks and rough-legged hawks also are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Shooting protected birds is a misdemeanor, Gibb said. 

Hub the bald eagle was her third protected bird in a very short amount of time that had been shot in that area, she said. 

“It irritates me. These birds do not look like a duck or pheasant — they don’t look like them at all,” Ahalt said. 

She speculated that frustrated hunters shot the protected birds, thinking they were interfering with their hunting. 

Not all of the shot birds met the same fate as Hub. Ahalt recently rehabilitated two birds — a red-tailed hawk and a rough-legged hawk. The red-tailed hawk recovered from his chest injury and is heading to a ranch in Meeteetse to help out with a surplus of rabbits and rats, she said. 

Meanwhile, the rough-legged hawk’s broken wing had tendon damage making flight impossible, so it’s heading to Kansas instead of being released into the wild, she said. 

Ahalt previously treated a bald eagle that lost its beak in a shooting. The eagle went on to live three and a half years with no beak, she said. She suspects that bird was shot for money, but the recent ones likely weren’t shot for black market trade. 

“The others were just shot because someone wanted to shoot something,” Ahalt said. 

Anyone with information about this incident, or any other eagle killing, is encouraged to contact U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent Steven Stoinski at 307-332-7607 (Lander) or Special Agent Bo Stone at 307-527-7604 (Cody). Callers do not have to identify themselves, and rewards often are available for information leading to a conviction.

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