We don't have many eagles in my area, but we have plenty of hawks and vultures here, and I drive for miles past this whirligig farm each day, both to and from my way to work - Headwaters Wind Farm
It always amazes me that this type of thing happens every year or so. It wasn't that long ago that a migratory crane of some sort was shot and killed in northern IN. If I remember right the guys who did bragged about it and were caught. I just don't see the point of randomly shooting something for the hell of it, especially a larger bird like an eagle.
What? "Indiana Conservation Officers are continuing to search for and eliminate possible nest sights belonging to the bald eagle that was shot and died of its injuries last week.
Search efforts have included the use of aircraft and drones to search nests in the area. The three nests closest to where the eagle was found have been eliminated from the search as all three have been documented to be two-parent nests. "
Is this really worthy of aircraft cost? Do we put this much effort info finding a thug that beats people up?
Seems a bit like chasing symbolism rather than using $$ wisely.
I guess I'm a lot more concerned that even though it took us years to discover that DDT was killing the eagles, we keep dumping other pesticides into the environment and assume we know they aren't doing a lot of damage. The eagle has recovered, people should follow the law and should be prosecuted for shooting it (unless there was a compelling reason). But this doesn't seem like a good use of resources.
There are about 600 Whooping cranes in existence. There have been several shot in Indiana. One in western Indiana by teenagers driving around shooting anything that moved. The shooter was fined $1 and court costs. I believe if these cases were punished to the max, and the results published widely, there would be fewer incidences of eagles and cranes being shot.