Last Updated on October 12, 2024 6:44 pm
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Robert Garner Gambill, 91, of Sparta, N.C., appeared in federal court inCharlotte on Friday and pleaded guilty to killing a bald eagle, in violation of the Bald and GoldenEagle Protection Act, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of NorthCarolina.
Douglas Ault, Special Agent in Charge with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of LawEnforcement (USFWS), Southeast Region, joins U.S. Attorney King in making today’sannouncement.
According to filed plea documents and Friday’s court proceedings, on June 5, 2024, Gambill,without being permitted to do so, set his firearm on a fencepost, and aimed, shot, and killed abald eagle that was perched in a tree near the Farmers Fish Camp Road Bridge in Sparta.Gambill killed the federally protected bird with a Ruger M77 Mark 2 22-250 rifle with anattached Nikon Monarch MR31 4×16-42 scope. As Gambill admitted in court Friday, after killingthe bald eagle, Gambill left the scene in his vehicle, abandoning the eagle carcass on the bank ofthe New River. The carcass was recovered with the assistance of two individuals who witnessedthe incident and was subsequently taken into the custody of the USFWS. A necropsy performedby a USFWS forensic laboratory identified injuries suffered by the bald eagle that wereconsistent with a gunshot wound from a high-powered rifle.
In 1940 Congress enacted the Eagle Protection Act, predecessor to today’s Bald Eagle andGolden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA), to protect the bald eagle from extinction. The BGEPAmakes it a crime against the United States to hunt, take, capture, kill, possess, and to otherwisedeal with the bald or golden eagle, or any part, nest or egg thereof, except as authorized by avalid permit issued by the U.S. Secretary of Interior.
Gambill pleaded guilty to unlawful taking of a bald eagle, which carries a maximum sentence ofone year in prison and a $100,000 fine or twice the gross gain or loss derived from the offense.Gambill also agreed to pay a fine in the amount of $9,500. Gambill was released on bond. Asentencing date has not been set.
In making Friday’s announcement, U.S. Attorney King commended the U.S. Fish and WildlifeService for the investigation of the case and thanked the North Carolina Wildlife ResourcesCommission and the Alleghany County Sheriff’s Office for their substantial assistance with theinvestigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Armstrong of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte isprosecuting the case.
For immediate assistance with fishing or hunting violations, please contact the North CarolinaWildlife Resources Commission or local law enforcement. If you have information about anyother wildlife crime, please follow the link https://www.fws.gov/wildlife-crime-tips, or call1-844-397-8477. Please do not leave reports requesting assistance for injured wildlife/birds.Learn more about what to do with injured or orphaned wildlife here.
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