AP – A man helped kill at least 118 eagles to sell their feathers and body parts on the black market as part of a long-running wildlife trafficking ring in the western United States (US) that authorities allege killed thousands of birds, court filings show.
Travis John Branson is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on September 18 for his role in the trafficking ring that operated on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana and elsewhere.
Prosecutors said the Cusick, Washington man made between USD180,000 and USD360,000 from 2009 to 2021 selling bald and golden eagle parts illegally.
“It was not uncommon for Branson to take upwards of nine eagles at a time,” prosecutors with the US Attorney’s Office in Montana wrote in a Tuesday court filing. “Not only did Branson kill eagles, but he hacked them into pieces to sell for future profits.”
Eagle wings, tails, feathers and other parts are highly sought after by Native Americans who use them in ceremonies.
Prosecutors asked Judge Dana Christensen to sentence Branson to “significant imprisonment” and restitution totalling USD777,250. That includes USD5,000 for every dead eagle and USD1,750 for each of 107 hawks that investigators said he and his co-conspirators killed.
Branson’s attorney disputed the prosecutors’ claims and said they overstated the number of birds killed. The prosecution’s allegation that as many as 3,600 birds died came from a co-defendant, Simon Paul, who remains at large. Branson’s attorney suggested in court filings that the stated death toll has fuelled public outcry over the case.
“It is notable that Mr Paul himself went from a 3,600 to 1,000 bird estimate,” Federal Defender Andrew Nelson wrote in a Tuesday filing, referring to a statement Paul made to authorities in a March 13, 2021, traffic stop.
Nelson also said restitution for the hawks was not warranted since those killings were not included in last year’s grand jury indictment. He said Branson had no prior criminal history and asked for a sentence of probation.
