By Molly Kirk/DWR
Photos by Jane Scott Norris
On March 31, Virginia Conservation Police Master Officer Brian Bratton concluded an investigation that had begun during the 2023-24 waterfowl season when he received information about an individual trapping and poisoning hawks and eagles on the Eastern Shore. After Master CPO Bratton contacted U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to assist in the investigation, a USFWS agent and Bratton located traps and multiple eagle and hawk carcasses to confirm the original information.
“[The defendant had] built a small waterfowl impoundment on his property,” Bratton said. “He’s a big duck hunter, and he was in the process of trying to really get it going [and attracting ducks].” When Bratton and the USFWS agent interviewed the suspect and inspected his property, they found a pole trap, which was used to attract birds of prey to land and then snared them, and a juvenile bald eagle carcass on the ground. Bratton and the USFWS agent suspected that bird had been poisoned. “This particular poison acts so quickly that nine times out of 10 when an eagle, hawk or whatever eats something, it acts so quickly that they die with whatever they’re eating still in their claws,” Bratton said. “It’s hard to explain, but they have just a certain look about them, the body posture. Once you’ve seen it once or twice, you can almost tell that’s what to suspect.” The USFWS laboratory testing determined that Bratton’s suspicions were correct and the eagle had been poisoned with a banned pesticide, carbofuran (trade name Furadan).
In a conversation with Bratton, the defendant admitted to killing in excess of 20 juvenile and mature bald eagles and hawks, primarily red-shouldered and red-tailed. He also surrendered a can of carbofuran, the pesticide he used to commit some of the crimes. The U.S. Attorney prosecuted the case, and the suspect plead guilty to violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which provides criminal penalties for persons who “take, possess, sell, purchase, barter, offer to sell, purchase or barter, transport, export or import, at any time or any manner, any bald eagle … [or any golden eagle], alive or dead, or any part (including feathers), nest, or egg thereof.”
The defendant was sentenced to one day in jail, two years of probation, and nearly $10,000 in fines.
“We’re fairly familiar with the guy. We’d dealt with him before on some waterfowl violations,” Bratton said. “He showed us what was going on and told us what he was doing and why he was doing it. He was killing the hawks and eagles because they were killing all the ducks he was attracting to his impoundment. It was the time of year when hawks are migrating through. And in very late winter, the food supply really gets short, so these birds are looking for prey. He was very aware it was illegal, but in his mind, the ends justified the means, because he’s getting rid of the predatory birds to protect the ducks. That many hawks and eagles is pretty significant, so I feel like it’s a win for protecting the resource from further loss.”
