The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act

The Eagle Act (16 U.S.C. 668-668c), enacted in 1940, and amended several times since
then, prohibits anyone, without a permit issued by the Secretary of the Interior, from
“taking” bald eagles, including their parts, nests, or eggs. The Act provides criminal and
civil penalties for persons who “take, possess, sell, purchase, barter, offer to sell,
purchase or barter, transport, export or import, at any time or any manner, any bald eagle
... [or any golden eagle], alive or dead, or any part, nest, or egg thereof.” The Act defines
“take” as “pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, molest or
disturb.” “Disturb’’ means:

"Disturb means to agitate or bother a bald or golden eagle to a degree that
causes, or is likely to cause, based on the best scientific information available,
1) injury to an eagle, 2) a decrease in its productivity, by substantially interfering
with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior, or 3) nest abandonment,
by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior."

In addition to immediate impacts, this definition also covers impacts that result from
human-induced alterations initiated around a previously used nest site during a time when
eagles are not present, if, upon the eagle=s return, such alterations agitate or bother an
eagle to a degree that injures an eagle or substantially interferes with normal breeding,
feeding, or sheltering habits and causes, or is likely to cause, a loss of productivity or nest
abandonment.

A violation of the Act can result in a criminal fine of $100,000 ($200,000 for organizations),
imprisonment for one year, or both, for a first offense. Penalties increase substantially for
additional offenses, and a second violation of this Act is a felony.