A reward is being offered after two juvenile bald eagles were found shot to death in two separate locations in western Indiana.
According to officials with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, conservation officers were recently called to a rural area in Sullivan County. Upon arrival they recovered the body of a juvenile eagle and determined that the bird had been shot.
Officers believe the shooting had occurred in early January.
In nearby Vigo County, another eagle’s body was found on March 10. That bird had also been shot in the chest and had died as a result of its injuries, officials said.
An Indiana anti-poaching program called “Turn-in-a-Poacher” and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are banding together to offer a $2,000 reward for information in connection with the bird killings.
Anyone with information can contact the DNR’s Law Enforcement dispatch line at 812-837-9356, or can call the TIP hotline at 1-800-847-4367.
Although bald eagles are no longer protected under the Endangered Species Act, it remains illegal to kill a bald eagle under provisions of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Anyone caught killing an eagle could face up to a year in prison and up to $5,000 in fines.
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