‘The local raptor population may take years to recover from these killings’

Richard Parker, 67, was arrested after authorities discovered 126 dead raptors, two dead bobcats and a stuffed mountain lion on a rural property near a wildlife refuge in Standish, Calif.

Some of the birds were identified as red-tailed hawks. At least one was an owl, and another was a migratory ferruginous hawk.

Parker is accused of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act by taking migratory non-game birds, among other charges. He faces up to a six-month jail sentence, a $5,000 fine for every illegally killed raptor, a $10,000 fine for the mountain lion and potential federal penalties.

“Poaching crimes of this egregious nature against raptors is unprecedented in California,” David Bess, deputy director and chief of the law enforcement division with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said in a statement. “The local raptor population may take years to recover from these killings.”

— Greenwire