BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A Washington state man who authorities said killed at least 118 eagles as part of a wildlife trafficking ring that operated on a Native American reservation in Montana was sentenced Thursday to three years and 10 months in prison and must pay more than $777,000 in restitution. The trafficking ring over more than a decade sold eagle feathers and parts on a black market that exploits high demand among tribal members who use them in powwows and other ceremonies.
The defendant and others killed at least 107 hawks and as many as 3,600 birds overall, prosecutors said. The poaching operation centered on the Flathead Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana, which researchers say has some of the highest concentrations of eagles and other birds of prey in the U.S.
Travis John Branson of Cusick, Washington, pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy and wildlife trafficking charges. Prior to being sentenced, Branson apologized to the court and his family. “It’s my own fault,” he said.
“I know what I did was wrong.” He declined to comment further after the hearing. In text messages obtained by investigators and presented at the sentencing hearing, Branson wrote of killing birds since the 1980s.
“So many I can’t remember anymore LOL,” Branson said in one text. Other texts described eagles being shot in Nevada and Idaho and instances of dozens of birds being shot on a single weekend. “This is just a small glimpse of the killing that was happening,�.
