BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Court records show that a man helped kill at least 118 eagles so that their feathers and body parts could be sold on the black market. This was part of a long-running wildlife trafficking ring in the western U.S. that officials say killed thousands of birds.
Travis John Branson will get his sentence in federal court on September 18 for his part in the trafficking ring that worked on Montana’s Flathead Indian Reservation and in other places.
People in Cusick, Washington, say that from 2009 to 2021, the man made between $180,000 and $360,000 by selling bald and golden bird parts without a license.
There were times when Branson would take up to nine eagles at once, according to a court document filed Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Montana. “Bronson not only killed eagles, but he also cut them up to sell for more money.”
Native American traditions use eagle wings, tails, feathers, and other parts that are very valuable to them.
The prosecutors asked Judge Dana Christensen to give Branson a term of “significant imprisonment” and $777,250 in restitution. He will get $5,000 for each dead eagle and $1,750 for each of the 107 hawks that detectives say he and his partners killed.
Branson’s lawyer said the cops were wrong when they said they killed more birds than they actually did. The government says that a co-defendant named Simon Paul, who is still on the run, said that up to 3,600 birds died. In court papers, Branson’s lawyer said that the reported death toll has made people more angry about the case.
“It is interesting that Mr. Paul himself went from estimating 3,600 birds to 1,000 birds,” Federal Defender Andrew Nelson wrote in a filing on Tuesday, referring to what Paul told police during a traffic stop on March 13, 2021.
He also said that the hawks shouldn’t have to pay back the money because those killings weren’t included in last year’s grand jury charge. He said Branson had never been in trouble with the law before and asked for probation as a punishment.
They both grew up in the Flathead Reservation area. Nelson says that Paul has been hiding in Canada since they were charged with a crime.
A message left on Paul’s lawyer’s phone asking for feedback did not get a response right away.
Prosecutors said that investigators wrote down the minimum number of eagles and hawks that Branson’s text messages killed. His messages from two years ago were not found, which is why prosecutors said that “the full scope of Branson’s killings is not captured.”
The government hasn’t said what other kinds of birds were killed.
Many Native Americans believe that bald and golden birds are holy. People in the United States are not allowed to kill, hurt, or bother eagles or take their nests or eggs without a permit.
A new government study says that illegal shots are one of the main reasons why golden eagles die.
There are legal places for people from nationally recognized tribes to get feathers and other bird parts. These include the National Eagle Repository in Colorado and non-government repositories in Oklahoma and Phoenix. The national library has had a backlog of requests for years.
In March, Branson pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wildlife trafficking, and two counts of trafficking bald and golden eagles that are protected by federal law. On the worst charge, conspiracy, he could have gone to jail for up to five years and had to pay a $250,000 fine. As part of a plea deal, authorities said they would try to get more trafficking charges dropped.
They said that Branson should get about three to four years in jail under federal rules.