Connecticut Audubon Society Condemns Killing of Bald Eagle, Urges Full Investigation

The Connecticut Audubon Society is urging a full and complete investigation into the recent killing of a Bald Eagle in Rocky Hill.

The Humane Society of the United States and the Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for shooting the a Bald Eagle in Rocky Hill.

The eagle was found dead Dec. 13 in the area of Great meadow Road in Rocky Hill, near the Connecticut River, according to a Department of Energy and Environmental Protection press release.

The eagle was immature and an autopsy revealed it was killed by a gunshot.

Read the full statement by the Audubon Society below:

Audubon Connecticut, the state office of the National Audubon Society, condemns the recent killing of an immature Bald Eagle in Rocky Hill, CT. The Bald Eagle is not only our national symbol of freedom, it is also a symbol of conservation success in Connecticut and across the country. That is part of what makes this incident so disheartening. In 1782, when America chose the Bald Eagle as our nation’s symbol, there may have been as many as 100,000 eagles nesting in the U.S.

By 1963, there were fewer than 500 known breeding pairs of Bald Eagles nationwide, and during the 1950s-1980s, the birds were rare and uncommon visitors to Connecticut with no known nesting pairs of this incredible species observed in our state until 1992.

Today, there are over 10,000 breeding pairs nationwide, and here in Connecticut over 100 Bald Eagles overwinter, and another three dozen or more nest in various locations across the state. We urge a full and complete investigation of this crime, and encourage anyone with information to call the DEEP Conservation Police at (860) 424-3333, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Agent at (860) 871- 8348.

A $5,000 reward is being offered. Audubon Connecticut pledges our own renewed efforts, and those of our 10,000 members in Connecticut to protect not only the Bald Eagle, but the full range of species that may be imperiled, and which depend on safe and abundant habitat here for their survival.