Bald eagle shot
Naselle, WA (US)

Incident Date: Sunday, Feb 13, 2011
County: Pacific

Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Timothy Allen Isom

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a southwest Washington man accused of impulsively killing a bald eagle while shooting cans at his home.

Filing misdemeanor charges earlier this week, prosecutors contend Timothy Allen Isom shot and killed the bald eagle near his Naselle home. Isom has been charged with a single count of unlawfully taking a bald eagle.

Describing the Feb. 13 incident for court, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent said wildlife officers were called to the Salmon Creek Road home following a report that an eagle had been shot.

The witness reported that a vehicle was seen leaving the area immediately after the shooting occurred, according to charging documents.

Wildlife officers stopped the suspect vehicle and questioned the driver, who said he was shooting cans with several others when someone saw the eagle land in a nearby tree. One member of the group then shot the eagle, the special agent told the court, and retrieved the downed bird.

Officers went to the home where the shooting was believed to have occurred and contacted several people, all of whom denied having seen the shooting. According to charging documents, Isom's mother contacted officers minutes later and identified her son as the shooter.

Writing the court, the special agent alleged Isom admitted to shooting the bird in a written statement given the following day.

According to court documents, Isom said he woke up and started drinking alcohol before he and several friends started shooting two rifles, a .22-caliber and the .270-caliber allegedly used to kill the bird.

Isom allegedly said he saw the bird land in a nearby alder tree, but claimed he saw it only in silhouette and was unable to identify it as a bald eagle before he fired.

"As soon as my crosshairs were center mass I pulled the trigger," Isom said, according to charging documents. "I saw it fall and I lost sight of it. … I said, 'Oh (expletive), I actually hit the bird.'"

When others who were with Isom realized he'd killed a bald eagle -- a protected species under federal law -- they became angry with him and he fled, the Naselle man told the court.

According to charging documents, Isom went on to claim he was "negligent" and blamed the shooting on his drinking.

"Had I not been drinking I would not have shot the bird and in a reckless manner," Isom said, according to the special agent's statement.

Isom has not been jailed in the case. He is expected to appear on June 3 in U.S. District Court at Tacoma.

References

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