North Strabane man pleads guilty to killing bald eagle, half of 'magical' pair

For 18 years, Linda Carnevali stood almost every day at the kitchen window of her Washington County townhouse and watched a pair of bonded bald eagles who lived in the tree across from her home.

They would soar from their large nest, swoop into the lake to fish and rebuild their home after high winds damaged or destroyed it. She watched them raise their eaglets, taking turns to hunt for food for them.

“They were always together,” Carnevali said Monday. “It’s almost a little magical.”

But in May, Carnevali and her Cherry Valley Lakeview Estates community in Mount Pleasant were distraught to learn the male eagle had been shot and killed.

On Monday, Rodney Thomas, 51, of North Strabane admitted to causing the raptor’s death. He pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of violating the Bald Eagle Protection Act before U.S. District Judge Christy Criswell Wiegand.

Thomas will serve two years probation and 50 hours of community service at a bird or wildlife organization.

He must also pay a $2,500 fine, pay $9,800 in restitution to the Pennsylvania Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Council in Chalfont, Bucks County, and surrender the air rifle and scope used in the killing.

“It was the best outcome I could have hoped for,” Carnevali said afterward.

According to court filings in the case, Thomas shot the eagle on May 12.

Law enforcement was notified by a witness that day who saw the eagle “drop from the sky.” Its carcass was found nearby in a field in Mt. Pleasant Township, Washington County.

A necropsy by the National Fish and Wildlife Forensic Services Lab found a .30-caliber metal pellet lodged in its body.

Thomas told officials he thought he was aiming at a turkey vulture, and when he realized it was an eagle, he contacted the Pennsylvania Game Commission and met with them.

Under federal law, turkey vultures are also a protected species under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and require a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to hunt.

During his interview with investigators, according to the defense, Thomas told them he was taking full responsibility.

“This was a terrible mistake,” he told investigators. “I swear to God I thought it was a turkey vulture. I can’t teach accountability to my children if I’m not doing it myself.”

Thomas also apologized in court Monday.

Carnevali, the only witness called by the government, said that her entire community mourned the death of the male eagle.

At the time he was killed, she said, there were eaglets in the nest.

That day, Carnevali said the female eagle sat on a branch a few trees away from the nest, waiting for her partner to return.

“She never left that branch all day,” she said.

Shannon R. Kuzio, an avid birder and amateur photographer, said that the two eaglets in the nest at the time were less than three months old.

They survived, she said.

Kuzio, of McDonald, wrote a letter to the court urging the judge to order Thomas to perform community service caring for wildlife.

“He was shooting an air rifle from the roadside into a field that didn’t belong to him. He left a bird of prey in said field and quickly fled the scene as evidenced by several cameras in the area,” she wrote. “Even if he was shooting at a turkey vulture as he alleges, those are also protected. And the question remains unanswered, why was he shooting the alleged turkey vulture? Had it caused him undue harm? Was it attacking him?”

Kuzio wrote that she had been following the eagles since 2015, and that the pair had successfully fledged at least seven other eaglets.

She took images of the pair the day before the male was killed.

Phillip and Genevieve Peterson of Mount Pleasant also submitted a letter, describing the impact the eagle’s death had on their children.

“For years, we have cherished the privilege of watching this magnificent creature fish in the lake, raise its young and perch in the trees in our backyard,” they wrote. “The blatant disregard for this iconic animal’s life, coupled with a complete neglect of the regulations meant to protect such creatures, is distressing.”

Carnevali said that about five months after the male was killed, she saw the female with a new partner.