Federal and local law enforcement officials are trying to find who is responsible for killing eagles across the state. Tom Tidwell with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says more than a dozen golden and bald eagles have been poisoned or shot in Utah over the past two years.
“It’s a unique situation. I’ve been in this job for a little over a decade now and I’ve never seen a situation like this where we have this many eagles either shot or poisoned in such a short amount of time.”
Tidwell says the killings have happened in Utah, Carbon, and Emery counties, as well as one specific area of Millard County where four golden eagles were shot. The bald eagle was taken off the endangered species list in 2007, but Tidwell says both still remain a rare bird.
“They’re protected by two federal laws, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act which is a general law over all migratory birds but you know Bald Eagles have their own statute protecting them. So, they’re an important resource and obviously congress thought they were important enough to create a law to protect them specifically.”
A reward of up to $2,500 is being offered for information leading to the prosecution of those responsible for the killings.