NEWS

Feds search for suspect shooting Northwoods raptors

Alison Dirr

ANTIGO – When a male osprey arrived at the Antigo offices of the Raptor Education Group in late July with a bullet hole in its wing, executive director Marge Gibson had no idea it would turn into a wide-reaching federal investigation into at least four protected birds being killed.

A few days later, a caller told REGI that baby ospreys in a nest near Namekagon Lake in Bayfield County were so hungry they were screaming. The crying was becoming louder and more urgent day by day.

Gibson began to put the pieces together and realized the male osprey at REGI was the father of the chicks at the abandoned nest. But where was the female osprey?

"It's unusual for two parents to disappear at the same time," Gibson said.

Shortly after the call ended, one of the two chicks jumped into traffic and died, she said. Its sibling also jumped from a nest likely 60 to 80 feet above ground, but landed in grass and survived.

"Their options are to starve up there (in the nest) or jump," Gibson said.

A little while later, the body of the mother was found on the ground near the nest. Gibson said she believes it was shot like the father, but the body was too decayed to know definitively.

Whatever the case, a search now is on for whomever is responsible for shooting those and other federally protected raptors in the Northwoods over the past several weeks.

Tina Shaw, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Midwest Region, said the agency likely will need help identifying and tracking down the culprits, who could face federal prison time and fines if convicted.

"We often turn to eyewitnesses to help close such cases," she said in an email.

Ospreys, also known as fish eagles or fish hawks, are all but impossible to confuse with game birds. They have eagle-like talons and beaks, stand about two feet tall and nest high in trees or atop platforms, usually adjacent to water. They survive almost entirely on fish.

One of the most common reasons osprey are shot is because people believe the birds are eating the fish that people otherwise would catch, Gibson said.

"It's hard to understand the psyche of someone who would just go out and start shooting things for no reason," Gibson said. "Especially when they're being shot at the nest when they know that there are babies and the babies will starve."

The investigation doesn't focus solely upon ospreys. A short times after the ospreys were found, the body of a barred owl that had been shot in the face was found in the same area.

Osprey and barred owls both are on the extensive list of birds protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, according to a list from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the agency Gibson said is investigating the deaths.

A volunteer pilot flew the surviving osprey chick to REGI. There, the father comforted the chick and encouraged it to eat for three or four days, Gibson said. After a couple weeks, the chick gained a pound — it now weighs about three pounds — and began to recover.

Ultimately, though, the father was the final fatality. His wing, which had been shot through the joint, was too badly injured, Gibson said, and he had to be put down.

"There was nothing anybody could do," she said.

The surviving chick will be placed in a wild nest to be fostered with other wild chicks as federal authorities try to track down the culprit.

Alison Dirr can be reached at 715-845-0658. Find her on Twitter as @AlisonDirr.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Violation Hotline

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