Billings, Montana — A man helped kill at least 118 eagles to sell their feathers and body parts on the black market as part of a long-running wildlife trafficking ring in the Western United States that authorities say killed thousands of birds, court documents show.
Travis John Branson is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on September 18 for his role in the trafficking ring that operated on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana and elsewhere.
Prosecutors say the Cusick, Washington, man made between $180,000 and $360,000 between 2009 and 2021 illegally selling bald eagle and golden eagle parts.
“It was not uncommon for Branson to kill as many as nine eagles at a time,” prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Montana wrote in a court filing Tuesday. “Not only was Branson killing eagles, he was cutting them into pieces to sell for future profit.”
The wings, tails, feathers and other parts of the eagle are highly prized by Native Americans who use them in ceremonies.
Prosecutors asked Judge Dana Christensen to sentence Branson to “significant imprisonment” and restitution totaling $777,250. That amount includes $5,000 for each eagle killed and $1,750 for each of the 107 falcons he and his accomplices killed, investigators said.
Prosecutors’ allegations contested
Branson’s lawyer disputed prosecutors’ claims and said they had exaggerated the number of birds killed. The claim that as many as 3,600 birds died came from a co-defendant, Simon Paul, who remains at large. Branson’s lawyer suggested in court documents that the reported death toll fueled the public outcry over the case.
“It is notable that Mr. Paul himself went from an estimate of 3,600 to 1,000 birds,” federal defender Andrew Nelson wrote in a court filing Tuesday, referring to a statement Paul made to authorities during a traffic stop on March 13, 2021.
Nelson also said restitution of the Falcons’ assets was not warranted since those killings were not included in last year’s grand jury indictment. He said Branson has no criminal history and asked for a probation sentence.
Branson and Paul grew up on the Flathead Reservation. Since their indictment, Paul has been hiding in Canada to evade justice, Nelson said.
Paul’s defense attorney did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.
Investigators documented the minimum number of eagles and hawks killed through Branson’s text messages, prosecutors said. Two years of his messages have not been recovered, leading prosecutors to say that “the scope of Branson’s killings is not fully realized.”
Government officials did not disclose any other species of birds killed.
Eagle and other bird parts highly sought after
Bald eagles and golden eagles are sacred to many Native Americans. U.S. law prohibits anyone without a permit from killing, injuring, or disturbing eagles, or taking their nests or eggs.
According to a recent government study, illegal shooting is one of the leading causes of golden eagle mortality.
Members of federally recognized tribes can legally obtain feathers and other bird parts from the National Eagle Repository in Colorado and nongovernmental repositories in Oklahoma and Phoenix. The national repository has a years-long backlog in processing applications.
In March, Branson pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wildlife trafficking and two counts of trafficking federally protected bald eagles and golden eagles. He faced up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the most serious charge, conspiracy. Under a plea agreement, prosecutors said they would seek to dismiss other trafficking charges.
Federal guidelines call for a prison sentence of about three to four years for Branson, they said.
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