Game Commission Offers $5,000 for Info on Bald Eagle Shooting

Earlier this month, State College-based nonprofit Centre Wildlife Care received a young Bald Eagle that had been devastated by bullets.

Tragically, the majestic bird died while under veterinary care. Now the Pennsylvania Game Commission needs your help to find who committed this crime – and the agency is offering a $5,000 reward for information.

Centre Wildlife Care executive director Robyn Graboski received the bird from a wildlife conversation officer after a farmer found the bird injured in his field on Thistle Ridge Lane in McConnellsburg in Fulton County. The farm is located near a shooting range, Graboski says.

The bird, immobilized by its wounds, was suffering from a broken wing and leg, and its injuries were being fed on by maggots. Graboski estimates the wounds were between two to five days old.

\”The way wounds were positioned, it had to have been a high powered rifle, and it had to go through the legs and wings,\” Graboski says. \”I\’m thinking the bird was probably perched and shot from underneath to get three different bones in one shot.\”

Graboski says she immediately took the bird to a veterinary hospital for emergency care and x-rays, which revealed entry and exit wounds and metal fragments inside the eagle\’s body. CWC staff were helping the eagle regain its strength so it could survive surgery when the animal succumbed to its wounds.

\”It\’s illegal to shoot any bird of prey. Period. An eagle is a very bid bird, so there\’s doubt in my mind this person shot intentionally,\” Graboski says. \”Maybe they didn\’t realize it was an eagle, but that doesn\’t matter. It\’s criminal to do something like this, and frankly, it\’s demented.\” 

Anyone with any information is asked to call the Game Commission at 814-643-1831.

Photo by Jim Deversa, and submitted by Centre Wildlife Care.