A Washington state man who pleaded responsible to killing no less than 118 eagles as a part of a wildlife trafficking ring that operated on a Native American reservation in Montana faces sentencing on Thursday earlier than a federal choose.
The trafficking ring bought eagle feathers and elements on a black market that exploits excessive demand amongst tribal members who use them in powwows and different ceremonies.
The years-long poaching operation was centered on the Flathead Indian Reservation. The defendant and others killed no less than 107 hawks and as many as 3,600 birds total, prosecutors mentioned.
Travis John Branson of Cusick, Washington, pleaded responsible in March to conspiracy and wildlife trafficking expenses. A second individual has been indicted within the case and prosecutors from the US legal professional’s workplace have mentioned others have been additionally concerned.
The prosecutors requested the US district choose Dana Christensen in Missoula to impose a “important” jail sentence and order restitution of over $750,000. They search $5,000 for every eagle killed and $1,750 for every hawk.
Branson might withstand 5 years in jail on the conspiracy cost.
His public defender requested for his consumer to be sentenced to probation.
The protection legal professional mentioned prosecutors overstated the variety of birds killed.
The federal defender Andrew Nelson additionally disputed the restitution quantity, saying it was too excessive for the eagles and the hawks shouldn’t be counted.
Branson has no earlier legal historical past, in line with Nelson. Due to the legal expenses, he misplaced his job as a upkeep supervisor for the Kalispel Tribe in Washington, Nelson mentioned, and the defendant suffered a stroke in April.
The legal case underscores the persistence of a thriving unlawful commerce in eagle feathers regardless of regulation enforcement efforts over the previous decade that netted dozens of legal indictments throughout the US west and midwest.
Bald eagles, as soon as extremely imperiled by the pesticide DDT, have bounced again in current a long time and the species is now thriving. The restoration of golden eagles has been extra tenuous and researchers have warned that the inhabitants is getting ready to decline as a result of shootings, poisonings, electrocutions on energy traces, collisions with wind generators and different threats.
It’s unlawful to purchase or promote eagle feathers or different elements. The federal government has sought to offset robust demand for feathers amongst Native Individuals by offering them free of charge from a authorities repository. However they’re unable to maintain up with demand and the repository has a years-long backlog.
Branson made between $180,000 and $360,000 from 2009 to 2021 promoting bald and golden eagle elements illegally, courtroom information mentioned.
Court docket paperwork quote Branson as saying in a January 2021 textual content that he was happening a “killing spree” to acquire eagle tails.
“It was not unusual for Branson to take upwards of 9 eagles at a time,” prosecutors with the US legal professional’s workplace in Montana wrote in a courtroom submitting. “Not solely did Branson kill eagles, however he hacked them into items to promote for future income.”
The second defendant, Simon Paul, of St Ignatius, Montana, stays at massive. A federal choose issued an arrest warrant for Paul in December after he failed to point out up for an preliminary courtroom listening to. Court docket paperwork recommend he has fled to Canada.
Federally acknowledged tribes can apply for permits with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to take a bald or golden eagle for spiritual functions. Enrolled tribal members can apply for feathers and different chook elements from the Nationwide Eagle Repository in Colorado and non-government repositories in Oklahoma and Arizona.
This article was first revealed by The Guardian on 31 October 2024. Lead Picture: A bald eagle in Alaska. As soon as extremely imperiled by the pesticide DDT, the inhabitants has bounced again in current a long time. {Photograph}: Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket/Getty Pictures.
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