Friday, August 29, 2003

By Rebekah Scott, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

It was big and feathered and sitting in a tree during the April turkey season, so Shannon Stacey Binda shotgunned it.

But it wasn't fair game. When the off-duty police officer from Jeannette realized that he'd shot a federally protected American bald eagle, he panicked and ran.

Last week at the Pennsylvania Game Commission office in Ligonier, Binda handed over his shotgun to federal Fish and Wildlife Agent Bill Anderson. He agreed to pay a $4,000 fine and miss the next three hunting and trapping seasons for violating the United States Eagle Act.

"It was a case of an individual mistakenly identifying a mature bald eagle as a roosting turkey," according to a Game Commission press release. "While he did not come forward to report his mistake, [Binda] was very cooperative when we confronted him with our evidence. He expressed remorse and said he just wanted to put the whole thing behind him."

Jeannette police said Binda was disciplined, but would not provide details.

Game Commission spokesman Jerry Feaser said "good hard police work and a confidential informant" connected the injured eagle to the hunter.

Feaser said a Bell resident found the injured eagle in May and contacted Game Commission officers, who took it to a Crawford County wildlife rehabilitation center.

A veterinarian determined that the adult male eagle had been shot, and Wildlife Conservation Officer Gary Toward was called to investigate.

The bird recovered from most of its injuries, but it cannot be returned to the wild because its right eye was damaged. It was one of a nesting pair known to inhabit the area, Feaser said.

A state police aerial survey determined that the mother bird was caring for two nestlings, so Toward placed road-kill deer near the nesting site over the following weeks.

"She had two youngsters to take care of and surely needed any help she could get," he said.

Eagles are considered a "threatened" species in Pennsylvania, and come under special federal protection. A midsummer census found 68 eagle nests in the state, up from 55 in 2001.

The Bell eaglets are fully fledged and "on their own out there," Feaser said. Binda will return to duty next week.

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