A West Point veterinarian’s analysis of a bald eagle found dead in Columbus Monday raises questions about how the bird died.
A resident found the bald eagle at about 9:30 a.m. Monday on the 1500 block of Fourth Avenue North and reported it to police. Assistant Chief Fred Shelton told The Dispatch the eagle appeared to have been shot with a small-caliber round. Police turned the eagle over to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
From there, Lt. Chris Reed said an MWF officer took the bird to veterinarian Karen Emerson for an x-ray.
“Initial x-rays, in her opinion, didn’t reveal that the eagle had been shot,” Reed told The Dispatch. “Those are still preliminary. She thought the cause of death was some type of trauma. That could be anything. We don’t know if the bird did that itself or if that was harm caused by a human. We’ve contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and advised them of the situation.”
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, bald eagles are protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.
Violating the act is punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 for individuals — $200,000 for organizations — and one year in prison for a first offense. Subsequent violations draw stiffer penalties, and a second violation is a felony.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates in its most recent population figures close to 9,800 nesting pairs of bald eagles in the lower 48 states. In 2006, the last time FWS recorded a bald eagle census in Mississippi, there were 31 nesting pairs in the state.
Local nesting eagles
A bald eagle pair has nested near Campbell Proffitt’s restaurant, Proffitt’s Porch, for 18 years. The restaurant is located to the northeast of Columbus Lake, on Officers Lake Road.
In that time, they’ve had 22 eaglets, not counting the young eagles now in the nest, Proffitt said.
When contacted by The Dispatch Tuesday morning, Proffitt confirmed his adult pair is safe, along with the nesting young.
Even so, he said there’s still a chance the dead eagle was born on his property.
“I understand it takes five or six years for their heads to turn white, so I don’t know if it was one of the babies that’s been born here,” he said. “If we’ve had 22 baby ones over the last 18 years, it could be any one of those.”
Proffitt said he was surprised to hear an eagle might have been shot in Columbus.
“I can’t imagine anybody wanting to do that,” Proffitt said. “It’s just incredible that anyone would ever want to harm one. It’s unbelievable, as a matter of fact, but there are some crazy people out there.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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