Bald eagle.Photo:Getty
Getty
The New York Timesreportedthat each of the men — Simon Paul of St. Ignatius, Mont., and Travis John Branson of Cusick, Wash. — were indicted in Montana on Thursday on one count of conspiracy, 13 counts of unlawful trafficking and one count of violating the Lacey Act.
The Lacey Act is a federal law that combats the trafficking of wildlife illegally removed from nature, according to theU.S. Department of Agriculture.
Prosecutors presented a handful of messages in their Montana federal court filing they say were sent from the men during that period, which allegedly highlighted how they planned their killings, how they contacted buyers for different parts of the birds, and how they coordinated with each other.
In one message, Branson allegedly acknowledged that he was “[o]ut [here] committing felonies.”The men would each face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted on the conspiracy charge, according to theTimes. It’s not immediately clear if either defendant has entered pleas to any of the charges or retained an attorney.
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Bald eagles were first adopted as the national symbol for the United States in 1782, but have faced extinction in the mid-1990s due to the destruction of their habitats, degradation, and the illegal shooting and contamination of their food sources, according tothe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.
But the symbolic birds have made a recovery in recent decades with an estimated 316,700 bald eagles in the lower 48 states in 2019. The bald eagle was removed from the nation’s endangered species list in 2007.“The recovery of the bald eagle is one of the most well-known conservation success stories of all time,” according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
source: people.com
