Salvatore Amato, an agent for the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Hadley, MA reported that more than 250 great blue heron carcasses, as well as carcasses of ospreys and a bald eagle were found on the grounds of the Mohawk Trout Hatcher during a long-term investigation.

The criminal complaint states that forensic testing on some of the carcasses indicated the birds as well as the bald eagle had been killed by rifle shot.

Special agents staked out the hatchery periodically and observed Zak shoot at a heron with a scoped rifle and Lloyd shoot at and kill an osprey.  Zak, age 58 of 467 Amherst Rd & Lloyd, age 29 of 115 Park St. Easthampton, MA were released on personal recognizance and ordered to turn in their guns and not to apply for passports.

On June 1, 2006 the Zak plead not guilty to 3 counts of violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and 1 count of violation of the Bald & golden Eagle Act.  Lloyd plead not guilty to 2 counts of violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.  And both men plead not guilty to a charge of conspiracy to violate the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.  Violation of the Bald Eagle Act is a Class A misdemeanor and punishable by up to a year in prison or up to a $5000 fine or both.  Violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act is a Class B misdemeanor and has a maximum penalty of 6 moths in prison and up to $1,500 fine or both, per count.

Zak is the owner of the private fish hatchery started by his father in 1953, Lloyd is an employee at the hatchery and Zak's son-in-law.

On March March 23, 2007, Lloyd plead guilty to 2 counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and 1 count of conspiracy to violate the same act.

On March 26, 2007, Zak plead guilty to 3 lesser charges and a jury-waived trial began to determine if he is guilty of culling a bald eagle. Zak also entered an Alford plea to the conspiracy charge which allows the defendant to not admit to being part of a conspiracy, but allows that the government had sufficient evidence to prove that he is guilty of conspiracy.

At trial the Prosecutor, Kim West stated that during interviews with many of the hatcheries former employees, government agents were told that Zak not only regularly shot birds that threatened his fish, but also bragged about how many of them he shot.

Zak could have obtained permits for culling predatory birds that attacked the livestock but he never applied for a permit nor did he put up defensive netting over the raceway that would have protected the fish.

Also during the court proceedings evidence was presented to show that the bald eagle was a juvenile female, banded on both legs and identified as being fledged in Connecticut.  The bald eagle was killed by a bullet that entered through its shoulder and exited through its abdomen.

Brooke Wilson, age 25 of Burlington, VT, another former employee and witness testified that Zak balked at buying netting to keep birds away because it was too expensive, (estimated at $40,000).

John Fulmore, another former employee, refereed to the dead pine tree where the birds often perched at the hatchery as "the hanging tree" because the birds would often hang upside down after being shot rather than fall to the ground.  He also testified that Zak detested great blue herons and took obvious satisfaction in shooting them.

Charles Bell, the manager of a much larger state-run hatchery half a mile from Zak's testified that it costs $12,000 to install netting over 45 tanks and that his facility often used cannons to make noise to scare away the birds along with the use of the netting.

Federal forensic expert Michael Scanlon testified that the bullet fragment found in the carcass of the bald eagle did not contain enough information to be able to match it to Zak's gun.  He did state that the bullet fell between the range of .17 caliber to .22 caliber, which means that it could have been fired from weapons belonging to either Zak or Lloyd.  2 other agents testified that they heard Zak admit to shooting the bald eagle on the day he was arrested in May of 2006.

Zak was convicted on April 10th, 2007 of killing a bald eagle.  Both Zak and Lloyd will be sentenced on June 27, 2007.

Reference:

The Boston Herald

The Recorder

The Republican

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette