Sparta man pleads guilty to killing a bald eagle

CHARLOTTE — Robert Garner Gambill, 91, of Sparta, appeared in federal court in Charlotte on Friday and pleaded guilty to killing a bald eagle, in violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Douglas Ault, Special Agent in Charge with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement (USFWS), Southeast Region, joins U.S. Attorney King in making the announcement.

According to filed plea documents and the Oct. 11 court proceedings, on June 5, Gambill, without being permitted to do so, set his firearm on a fencepost, and aimed, shot, and killed a bald 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 an attached Nikon Monarch MR31 4x16-42 scope. As Gambill admitted in court, after killing the bald eagle, Gambill left the scene in his vehicle, abandoning the eagle carcass on the bank of the New River. The carcass was recovered with the assistance of two individuals who witnessed the incident and was subsequently taken into the custody of the USFWS. A necropsy performed by a USFWS forensic laboratory identified injuries suffered by the bald eagle that were consistent with a gunshot wound from a high-powered rifle.

In 1940 Congress enacted the Eagle Protection Act, predecessor to today’s Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA), to protect the bald eagle from extinction. The BGEPA makes it a crime against the United States to hunt, take, capture, kill, possess, and to otherwise deal with the bald or golden eagle, or any part, nest or egg thereof, except as authorized by a valid permit issued by the U.S. Secretary of Interior.

Gambill pleaded guilty to unlawful taking of a bald eagle, which carries a maximum sentence of one 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. A sentencing date has not been set.

In making Friday’s announcement, U.S. Attorney King commended the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the investigation of the case and thanked the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the Alleghany County Sheriff’s Office for their substantial assistance with the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Armstrong of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte is prosecuting the case.

For immediate assistance with fishing or hunting violations, please contact the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission or local law enforcement. If you have information about any other wildlife crime, please follow the link www.fws.gov/wildlife-crime-tips, or call 1-844-397-8477.