Men Plead Guilty in Bald Eagle Deaths

By KRISTEN WYATT
Associated Press Writer

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Two Maryland men have been convicted of killing bald eagles in unrelated cases, state wildlife authorities announced Tuesday.

The first case started in January when hunters on the Eastern Shore discovered a dead bald eagle that appeared to have been poisoned.

An investigation led to a Caroline County man who wanted to get rid of nuisance foxes and raccoons, so he injected a pesticide into a chicken egg and left it outside. A fox ate the poisoned egg, died, and then was eaten by the eagle, which also died.

Robert N. Patrick Jr., 51, was fined $1,275 recently on a federal charge of violating the Bald Eagle Protection Act and using a restricted-use pesticide.

Sgt. Ken Turner, spokesman for the Maryland Natural Resources Police, said Patrick did not mean to kill an eagle, but that his actions inadvertently caused the death of the bald eagle.

"They're scavengers as well, so if you have some roadkills out there, it's not below an eagle to fly down and get a free meal," Turner explained.

The second case happened in southern Maryland, where a St. Mary's County man was convicted of shooting and killing wildlife off the back porch of his apartment.

Police say neighbors of Francis G. Long Jr., 31, of Bushwood, called police to tip them off about the shootings. Investigators found a dead bald eagle on his property in March, along with dead turkey vultures, a dead skunk and a dead woodchuck. Only the eagle and vulture are protected species, but Long would have been prohibited from firing a gun from his porch in any case, Turner said.

Turner said the dead bald eagle was immature, meaning it did not yet have the species' distinctive white head, so Long may not have known he was killing a bald eagle. Long pleaded guilty earlier this month in a temporary U.S. District Court in Hyattsville.

Long was fined $2,500. Authorities also revoked his hunting license for a year and placed him on a year's probation.

Turner said cases of bald eagle killings are rare.

"It's a symbol of our country," he said. "It's not something we run into year after year."

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