Oregon Man Accused of Intentionally Running Over and Killing Bald Eagles
Authorities have charged an Oregon man with using a motorized vehicle to harass or molest game after he allegedly accelerated through a group of bald eagles in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, killing two, the Associated Press reports.
“Somebody called us and said there was someone who had ran over an eagle,” Unalaska Police Chief Jamie Sunderland told KTUU. “They said there was blood, and it was flopping around, that someone should come put it down.”
According to police, 28-year-old Dennis C. Thompson of Union, Oregon was driving the pickup that also injured two other eagles. From the Alaska Dispatch News:
A jogger witnessed the act and reported it to Unalaska police around 9:30 p.m. A Ford truck had hit the eagles near the Aleutian city’s landfill, said Megan Peters, troopers spokesperson.
“The eagles were feeding and the person in the truck plowed through them and kept going,” she said.
Witness statements led troopers, who took control of the case, to identify Dennis Thompson as the driver of the truck.
NBC News reports that Thompson could face additional charges for violating the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which threatens lawbreakers with one year in prison, a $100,000 fine, or both.
As of Friday morning, there was reportedly no information that federal authorities had been made aware of the incident.
[Image via AP Images]