Harassment, death of an eagle, smuggling hawks
Pennsauken, NJ (US)Incident Date: Friday, Apr 30, 2004
County: Camden
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Thomas Cullen
The state can go ahead with a civil suit against the potential developer of Petty's Island and its bird consultant for the death of a baby eagle there two years ago, a Mercer County Superior Court Judge ruled Friday.
The state has enough merit in its argument that Thomas Cullen - an avian expert hired by developer Cherokee Northeast - harassed the endangered eagle and caused its death in 2004, said Mercer County Superior Court Judge Paul T. Koenig.
Koenig also ruled that Cherokee should have known Cullen's intentions.
The existence of an eagle's nest on the uninhabited island in the Delaware River between Pennsauken and Philadelphia pitted developers against preservationists.
Cherokee, which wants to put a golf course on the island, claims it hired Cullen to solely observe the birds.
The state's argument "is nowhere supported by the facts," said the developer's attorney, Jeffrey Smith, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in Saturday newspapers.
But Cullen's deal with Cherokee called for him to observe the birds during their mating season, when the eagles are the most easily roused, said Deputy Attorney General Jean P. Reilly.
Cullen also paid Ben Mohin, 21, of Collingswood to paddle his kayak toward the birds' nest, which "spooked" the baby eagle, Reilly said.
"It disrupted breeding, prevented feeding and caused them to abandon the nest," Reilly said.
Peter Ginsberg, an attorney for Cullen, says the New Jersey's endangered species laws are too inexplicit for his client to broken them.
Cullen was convicted last year in New York of smuggling two black sparrowhawks into the United States under an exception to the federal Wild Bird Conservation Act that allows people to import pet birds.
Prosecutors said Cullen abused the exception by saying the birds were being imported by a man who later testified that they were not his pets.
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