Eagle Killer Receives Presidential Pardon
Bush Pardons Leslie Owen Collier for Deaths of Endangered Birds
Dec 17, 2008
In 1995, Leslie Owen Collier became a local and national pariah when he killed three bald eagles on his farm in southeast Missouri. Collier has always maintained that the incident was accidental, and President Bush evidently agreed. In one of the smallest numbers of Presidential pardons granted in recent history, Bush gave a reprieve to Collier, who pled guilty to Federal charges of killing animals protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Incident At Collier Farm
Leslie Owen Collier claims that he was participating in a practice common to many livestock and poultry farmers in his region. In an effort to nurture a slowly burgeoning population of wild turkeys in the area, Collier attempted to thin the population of marauding coyotes by placing poisoned hamburger meat around the farm. Although he succeeded in killing off seven of the targeted coyotes, Leslie Owen Collier's life changed for the worse when a number of other animals fed off of the poisoned meat.
The coyote carcasses, which Collier neglected to remove and destroy, contained large traces of the pesticide Furadan. When three scavenging bald eagles fed on the meat, they died--along with several other animals, including a great horned owl and a red-tailed hawk.
Endangered Species Law
Endangered Species Law as enforced by The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lists specific language prohibiting the use of deadly pesticides in areas where animals such as bald eagles are known to reside.
When the incident was discovered, Collier was brought up on felony charges to which he pled guilty in 1995. Never sentenced to actual jail time, the Missouri farmer was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution and was subject to two years of probation. The most difficult aspect of the sentencing, according to Collier, was the general attitude of disdain he perceived from his neighbors after the incident.
"For a while, you think people kind of look at you different," he said.
No Longer A Felon
George W. Bush's decision to issue a Presidential pardon to the Missouri farmer means that Leslie Owen Collier will no longer be classified as a felon. He can once again enjoy the right to vote, hold office, and just as important, perhaps, for a farmer and rural resident, possess firearms.
Although vindicated in the eyes of the law, Collier has spent more than a decade wearing the mantle of "eagle killer." The task of clearing his name of the moniker amongst his neighbors and animal rights activists across the country could prove more difficult.
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