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Two convicted of killing eagle
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Two area chicken farmers were convicted and sentenced in federal court in Salisbury for killing a bald eagle. In a plea bargain agreement, Ernest J. Long, 70, of Camden-Wyoming, Del., and Angel Gomez, 36, of Goldsboro, each pleaded guilty to one charge of violating the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a violation that carries a maximum $15,000 fine and/or six months in prison per charge.
U. S. Magistrate Victor H. Laws, III, sentenced Long to pay fines and restitution of $8,000; Gomez to pay fines and restitution of $3,000, and each of them to one year of probation.
Four migratory birds died, including three bald eagles and one great horned owl. In addition, a dead fox and injured bald eagle were found in the area .
The plea deal states that the poisoning occurred in late 2006 after Long gave Gomez some "sweet stuff" to solve her problem of predators killing her chickens. He also instructed her on how to use it. The granular "sweet stuff" was highly poisonous Furadan, a toxic pesticide.
"Furadan is a poisonous insecticide intended to be used sparingly to kill bugs," said U. S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein in describing the case. "The defendants used it to kill wildlife, and they succeeded in killing a number of animals, including three bald eagles and a great horned owl."
Labeling cautions that the restricted Furadan is for use only as an underground soil treatment applied by trained professionals.
As per Long's verbal instructions, Gomez laced two dead chickens with Furadan, placing one on the ground to kill foxes, the second on top of a chicken coop for hawks and owls.
The poisoning was discovered January 20, 2007 by Maryland and Delaware Natural Resources Police and federal Fish and Wildlife Service agents.
Initial federal investigation suggested possible charges for each death or injury under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, and Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act in addition to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Bald eagles were protected under the Endangered Species Act at the time but were since removed on June 28, 2007. Had the maximum fines and prison time for all these alleged violations been enacted, penalties could have reached $1,331,000 and fourteen years in prison.
Contacted on Friday by The Examiner, Long suggested a different scenario than one signed by him in court earlier that day. He insisted that he did not know what was in the jar he gave Gomez or how to use it. Gomez could not be reached by the Examiner.
"I think that I got ripped off," Long said, complaining about the $7,500 he had to pay his attorney and the fine and restitution penalty of $8,000 that was greater than that received by Gomez.
C. Boyd Pfeiffer is an internationally known sportsman and award-winning writer on fishing, hunting, and the outdoors. He can be reached at cbpfeiffer@msn.com
