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Va. man kills bald eagle for hunting fish in his pond

A man pleaded guilty to killing a bald eagle after it had been taking fish on his property.

Bald eagle, close up

A man pleaded guilty to killing a bald eagle after it had been taking fish on his property.

Allen H. Thacker, 62, shot a bald eagle down from his property after wounding it at first. According to the Virginia Department of Justice, he tried to scare the bird away by firing a warning shot. When that didn’t work, he shot the bird with a rifle.

Thacker denied it at first, but when someone said they had seen Thacker driving over the bird with his car, he admitted to shooting the bird and then running it over. His first shot to the bird wounded it, but the blunt force trauma to the eagle’s skull was fatal.

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Thacker faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine when he was sentenced on October 23. A federal district court judge will decide if he will serve the maximum sentence.

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