Who would kill an eagle?

I remember sitting in the warm sun on top of Pine Bluff in Riverside State Park, looking down on an eagle nest. It was only 50 yards away and below eye level, so I could see the eagle parent and young on the nest, while its mate hunted for food along the river to feed them.

It takes a pair to do this annual spring ritual – they both sit on the nest and both hunt. One of them is always with the eaglets until they are big enough to avoid serving as prey for ravens or succumbing to hypothermia.

We have sat there being entertained by the family a couple of times a week from the end of March until the first of July for the last five years. Twice we have seen the eaglets at the moment when they took flight for the first time and floated away for good. But here they were on the nest with eggs or chicks again this year. We have been climbing up there to watch in wonder for the last two weeks.

It was with great sadness that I read in the Spokesman that someone had shot two eagles near Riverside State Park. Anxiously, I hiked up to see the eagles – the nest was quiet and empty.

Who would kill this amazing animal – and why?

Suzanne Rivers

Spokane