Man to plead guilty in eagle ‘killing spree’ on reservation to sell feathers on black market
Man to plead guilty in eagle ‘killing spree’ on reservation to sell feathers on black market
A Washington state man accused of helping kill thousands of birds has pleaded guilty to shooting eagles on an American Indian reservation in Montana and selling their feathers and body parts on the black market.
A Washington state man accused of helping kill thousands of birds is expected to plead guilty Wednesday to shooting eagles on an American Indian reservation in Montana and selling their feathers and body parts on the black market.
The prosecution over golden and bald eagles killed on the Flathead Indian Reservation underscores the persistence of a thriving illegal trade in eagle feathers despite a law enforcement crackdown in the 2010s that netted dozens of criminal indictments across the U.S. West and Midwest.
A grand jury indictment last December quotes defendant Travis John Branson saying in a January 2021 text that he was going on a “killing spree” to obtain eagle tails. Branson and a second defendant, Simon Paul, killed approximately 3,600 birds, including eagles on the Flathead reservation and elsewhere, according to the indictment. Federal authorities have not disclosed how all the birds were killed, nor where else the killings happened.
You're viewing a single thread.
The feathers probably are needed for fly fishing. There are other famous heists around it: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/654/the-feather-heist
"Needed" is a strong word lol
Man I remember listening to that story of the museum heist on NPR. Ended up being like 15 minutes late to wherever I was supposed to be because I stayed in the car listening to the whole thing.