The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is offering a $5,000 reward for information about the illegal shooting of a bald eagle in Bridport last month.
Vermont Fish and Wildlife game wardens responded to reports of a dead bald eagle near East Street in Bridport on Oct. 15. An analysis found metal pellets in the eagle’s body, and recent wounds that were likely caused by a shotgun, according to a press release from Vermont Fish and Wildlife.
The case is being investigated by federal officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. Investigators say the shooting of a bald eagle in Vermont is rare, and they’re looking for any information that will help them figure out what happened.
I'm sure that somebody somewhere knows something about this crime.Detective Sgt. David Taddei, Vermont Warden Service
“Even just a name or a place to start would be useful,” said Detective Sgt. David Taddei, with the Vermont Warden Service, in an interview on Thursday. “I'm sure that somebody somewhere knows something about this crime.”
The eagle’s body has been taken to the Clark R. Bavin National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Oregon to determine the specific type of shot that hit the bird, Taddei said.
“It’s going to tell us a lot about where to look for a potential suspect,” Taddei said.
Bald eagles, a species that once teetered on the brink of extinction, have rebounded in recent decades due to conservation efforts and protections from federal and state laws. The bird was removed from Vermont’s threatened and endangered species list in 2022, and there are now at least 45 territorial nesting pairs in the state, according to Audubon Vermont. Bald eagles are still protected under federal law, and fines for killing an eagle can reach $100,000.
The eagle that was shot was first seen in Vermont in August 2006, according to a research band on the eagle’s leg.
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