Three dead bald eagles, one dead fox, one dead owl and one ill bald eagle — all poisoned near the Maryland/Delaware line — are allegedly the result of a chicken farmer lacing a dead chicken with the now-illegal pesticide Furadan, according to information obtained from sources by The Examiner. Further source information alleges that the poison-laced chicken was used in an effort to kill owls preying on ornamental chickens. The eagle deaths were discovered Jan. 20 by Delaware and Maryland Natural Resource Police officers. It is now a Fish and Wildlife Service ongoing investigation.

According to sources, the three dead bald eagles, along with an ill eagle, dead fox and dead great horned owl, were discovered in Delaware near the Maryland line. Allegedly, the poison-laced chicken was picked up by the owl from a Maryland farm and carried a short distance over the state line where the owl, fox and four eagles ate the chicken, killing the owl, fox and three of the eagles. The ill bald eagle was immediately taken to a wildlife rehabilitation center and is current recovering.

Killing a bald eagle carries heavy penalties under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Endangered Species Act, and — in this case involving poison — the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. Maximum penalties under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act are fines up to $100,000 and/or one year in prison, with subsequent-offense fines up to $250,000 and two years in prison per offense. In this alleged case, the second and third eagle deaths could possibly be considered subsequent offenses.

Additional possible charges under the Endangered Species Act (eagles apply, since they are listed as threatened), are up to $100,000 and/or one year in prison per offense. Other charges under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act include penalties up to $15,000 and/or six months in prison, per offense. Violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act for poison misuse can result in up to a $1,000 fine and 30 days in prison, per offense.

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Owls are also protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, with the fines above. Both the owl and fox death would also be covered under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, with state penalties for the fox death also possible.

The ongoing investigation by FWS agents may be an effort to find the origin of the pesticide and its possible further use on the Eastern Shore. One Examiner source suggested that while cases of eagle poisonings are not unknown on the Eastern Shore, being able to solve a poisoning case and file charges is rare. It was also stated that the alleged case is particularly egregious for the East Coast.

Furadan, generically known as carbofuran, is one of highly toxic carbomate pesticides once widely used to control many insects including water weevils in rice fields, ticks, fleas, and nematodes. It was introduced in 1967. It has also been widely blamed for killing millions of birds throughout the world, and been involved in secondary poisoning of pets, livestock and people. The granular form of the poison was banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1998. Total banning of the liquid form came in August 2006.

Secondary poisoning, in which one species is killed by poison intended for another species, is common among carrion eaters and more widely known out west.

In western states, ranchers sometimes lace dead sheep with poison in an effort to kill coyotes. In the process, they also kill bald eagles, golden eagles, condors and other birds of prey and small mammals that eat carrion, according to Jay Sheppard, a retired Fish and Wildlife Service ornithologist.

Eagles and other protected wildlife are protected not only from poisoning, but also any act to kill them or destroy their habitat. In a case that involved a construction company chain-sawing and using a front-end loader to push down an eagle nesting tree near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, the fine was $20,000; the $18,000 Kubota tractor used to push over the tree was also confiscated.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has “no comment at this time” on this particular eagle poisoning case. No charges have yet been filed. More details will be released later.

“We take the poisoning of bald eagles very seriously, and we will aggressively investigate these incidents,” said the resident agent in charge, Richard Perry, from the Richmond FWS district office.

C. Boyd Pfeiffer is an internationally-known sportsman and award-winning writer on fishing, hunting, and the outdoors, and is currently working on his 25th book. He can be reached at cbpfeiffer@msn.com.