Woman has son kill eagle that was harassing waterfowl in family pond

A 48-year-old Minnesota woman whose son shot and killed a bald eagle at her request because it was harassing waterfowl on the family property has been fined $2,500, government conservation officials said.

Katherine K. Tramm, of Mora, paid her fine last month in a plea agreement stemming from the shooting in October.

Tramm "asked her son to kill the bald eagle, which was harassing ducks and swans on the Tramm's private pond," the federal citation issued to her said.

Tramm also admitted to handling the dead eagle, "which was disposed of on her property," the citation added.

The adult son was not charged, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Green Bay, Wis., which investigated the killing.

Minnesota conservation officers Dan Perron and Mike Lee responded to a complaint made to the Minnesota "Turn in Poachers" hotline that a bald eagle had been killed in Mora last fall. The officers failed to retrieve the eagle but did obtain Tramm's confession.

Listed as endangered since 1967, the bald eagle was removed last year from the federal list of threatened and endangered species. However, two federal laws protect eagles, nests and eggs from being destroyed, sold or otherwise harmed.

The national symbol has rebounded in the past four decades from 400 breeding pairs in the continental United States to about 10,000 today. Minnesota has about 1,300 pairs.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482