Reward offered
A $2,500 reward is offered for information in Meigs and Rhea counties leading to the arrest and prosecution of the person or persons responsible for shooting two bald eagles Jan. 30 and Feb. 1, respectively. Anyone with information about those shootings should call the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency’s Region III office at 931-484-9571 or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at 615-736-5532.
Officials with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are investigating the shooting of two bald eagles in the Tennessee River Valley. Both eagles were transported to the Avian and Exotics service at the University of Tennessee Veterinary Medical Center, but the injuries sustained were incurable and both were euthanized.
Officials with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are investigating the shooting of two bald eagles in the Tennessee River Valley. Both eagles were transported to the Avian and Exotics service at the University of Tennessee Veterinary Medical Center, but the injuries sustained were incurable and both were euthanized.
Officials with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are investigating the shooting of two bald eagles in the Tennessee River Valley. Both eagles were transported to the Avian and Exotics service at the University of Tennessee Veterinary Medical Center, but the injuries sustained were incurable and both were euthanized.The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is offering a $2,500 reward for information on the shootings of two bald eagles last week in Meigs and Rhea counties.
Both eagles were found alive but were so seriously injured they had to be euthanized. The reward, a combined $5,000 in the two counties, stems from an investigation launched by the TWRA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
"Bleeding-heart Liberals and right-wing nut cases can agree that this was a bipartisan atrocity," one man wrote on the Times Free Press Facebook page.
State and federal officials continue to probe the shotgun killings of two of the nation's symbols, the first a female bald eagle found Jan. 30 in Meigs County off State Route 68 near State Route 58; and the second, a male bald eagle found Feb. 1 along Abby Lane, just north of Highway 60 in Rhea County.
The first bird was found alive but suffering from a shotgun blast that left deadly shotgun pellet injuries behind that could not be cured.
"After examination, it was determined the eagle had been shot with size eight to eleven shotgun pellets," TWRA officials said. Officials also determined the bird had been shot up to a week prior to his being discovered.
The second bird was "alive but in poor condition" and had a "suspected entrance and exit wound" believed to have come from a gunshot, officials said.
Both birds were taken to the avian and exotics service at the University of Tennessee Veterinary Medical Center, where personnel found the birds' injuries so severe they were forced to euthanize them, according to the TWRA.
Bald eagles dwindled to a low of just over 400 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states in 1963, and the species was one of the first to receive protection under the precursor to the Endangered Species Act in 1967. However, in 2007, the bald eagle was removed from the federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants, and some 143,000 bald eagles and 40,000 golden eagles are said to exist today.
Though taken off the endangered species list in 1978, bald eagles still are protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Violations of those statutes carries a maximum criminal penalty of up to $100,000 and/or one year in federal prison. State criminal charges also will apply if an arrest is made.
The national symbol has been under fire in the Chattanooga region several times in the last few years.
In 2011, two bald eagles were shot and killed in Bledsoe and Cumberland counties. Both were obviously adult bald eagles with white heads plainly visible. Reward amounts climbed to $17,000, but no arrests were ever made.
In 2013, two more eagles were wounded by gunshots in the region, one near Soddy-Daisy in Hamilton County and the other near Tellico Lake in Monroe County. Both birds were peppered with shotgun pellets in one wing but survived and were rehabilitated at the American Eagle Foundation in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
The reward in those cases combined reached $22,000.
TWRA spokeswoman Mime Barnes said there have been no arrests in any of Southeast Tennessee's bald eagle shootings, but that doesn't mean there can't be a first time.
"We want the word to spread about these two shootings in particular," Barnes said Tuesday. She said the killings have taken a toll on the people who make their living taking care of and managing wildlife.
To work so hard trying to save an eagle only to lose it in the end is "heartbreaking" for wildlife officers and medical staff tending to the mortally wounded birds, Barnes said.
Barnes said even the tiniest bit of information could be vital to the investigation and urged anyone who knows anything about the shootings to come forward.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.