The Stanton County Sheriff’s Office in Nebraska respond to a report of a suspicious vehicle just northwest of the main Wood Duck Recreation Area. When law enforcement found the vehicle, it had two occupants; Ramiro Hernandez-Tziquin and Domingo Zetino-Hernandez. They were in possession of the corpse of a bald eagle they they apparently shot with a rifle. The reason they shot the national symbol?
Well, they wanted to cook it and eat it.
While the two men live in Norfolk, Nebraska, they are Honduran nationals. With the aid of a translator, they said they not only shot the bird but intended to cook and eat it. The men were cited for unlawful possession of the eagle. Hernandez-Tziquin was also charged with not having a driver’s license. But “more serious charges are possible as the investigation into the unlawful killing continues,” the sheriff’s office said. Nebraska Game and Parks took possession of the rifle allegedly used to kill the eagle, as well as the slain bird.
Bald eagles are federally protected birds under The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. It is against the law to kill them. This is because, not only are they an iconic symbol of America, their population is also in serious trouble. The number of bald eagles has severely declined throughout the 20th century to the point where they were federally classified as endangered in 1978. Which has aided in strengthening their populations all over the US, especially in Nebraska.
According to Nebraska Game and Parks, the number of bald eagle nests in the state has increased every year since 1991. Though it is still unclear if the men know the bird they killed was a bald eagle.
