BILLINGS, Mont. – A guy assisted in the killing of at least 118 eagles to sell their feathers and body parts on the black market as part of a long-running wildlife trafficking organization in the western United States, which officials claim murdered thousands of birds, court records say.
Travis John Branson is set to be sentenced in federal court on September 18 for his role in a trafficking organization that operated on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana and other locations.
Prosecutors claim the Cusick, Washington, man earned between $180,000 and $360,000 from illegally selling bald and golden eagle parts between 2009 and 2021.
“It was not uncommon for Branson to take upwards of nine eagles at a time,” prosecutors with the Montana U.S. Attorney’s Office stated in a court filing on Tuesday. “Not only did Branson kill eagles, but he hacked them into pieces to sell for future profits.”
Native Americans collect eagle wings, tails, feathers, and other parts for ceremonial purposes.
Prosecutors urged Judge Dana Christensen to sentence Branson to “significant imprisonment” and $777,250 in compensation. This includes $5,000 for each deceased eagle and $1,750 for each of the 107 hawks that investigators allege he and his co-conspirators killed.
Branson’s counsel contested the prosecutors’ claims, claiming they exaggerated the number of birds killed. The prosecution claims that up to 3,600 birds died, which originated from a co-defendant, Simon Paul, who is still at large. In court filings, Branson’s counsel claimed that the reported death toll has spurred public outrage over the case.
“Notably, Mr. Paul himself went from a 3,600 to 1,000 bird estimate,” Federal Defender Andrew Nelson stated in a Tuesday filing, alluding to a statement Paul made to police during a March 13, 2021 traffic encounter.
Nelson also stated that reparations for the Hawks were not justified because the killings were not mentioned in last year’s grand jury indictment. He stated that Branson had no prior criminal history and requested a probationary sentence.
Branson and Paul grew up in the Flathead Reservation. According to Nelson, Paul has been hiding in Canada to dodge justice since their indictment.
Paul’s defense counsel did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.
Investigators documented the minimal number of eagles and hawks killed using Branson’s text conversations, according to prosecutors. Two years of his texts were not found, prompting prosecutors to declare that the “full scope of Branson’s killings is not captured.”
Government officials have not released the identities of any other bird species that were killed.
Bald and golden eagles are holy to many Native Americans. Anyone without a permit in the United States is prohibited from killing, injuring, or disturbing eagles, as well as taking their nests or eggs.
A recent government research found that illegal shootings are a major cause of golden eagle deaths.
Members of federally recognized tribes can lawfully obtain feathers and other bird parts from the National Eagle Repository in Colorado, as well as non-governmental repositories in Oklahoma and Phoenix. The national repository has a request backlog that has accumulated over the years.
Branson pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy, wildlife trafficking, and two counts of trafficking federally endangered bald and golden eagles. He could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiracy, the most serious accusation. Prosecutors stated in a plea agreement that they would seek to dismiss additional trafficking charges.
According to federal guidelines, Branson faces a sentence of three to four years in jail.