Missouri Man Who Killed Bald Eagles Is Pardoned

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 30 -- Leslie Owen Collier was surrounded by cattle at a livestock auction when his cellphone rang. It was the White House.

Twelve years after pleading guilty to federal charges in the deaths of three bald eagles, Collier learned that his name was cleared: He was pardoned by President Bush.

"I guess I was humbled is the best way to say it -- I never thought it would happen," Collier, 50, said in a phone interview. "It was emotional. I almost came to tears, really."

Collier was among 14 people pardoned by Bush on Nov. 24. The president has granted 171 pardons overall -- less than half as many as the other most recent two-term presidents, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.

The 1995 incident that changed the life of the farmer from the Charleston area of southeastern Missouri began when he noticed an increasing number of wild turkeys, which were believed to have died away. "I got it in my head that if I eliminated some of the coyotes it would give the turkeys a jump-start" on their comeback, Collier said.

So he put out hamburger meat laced with the pesticide Furadan in an effort to kill the coyotes. It worked; seven coyotes died.

The problem occurred when the eagles fed on the coyotes' carcasses. They died, too. So did a red-tailed hawk and a great horned owl, among other animals.

The birds are federally protected, and killing them is illegal. Collier said the crime became a felony when the second eagle died. He pleaded guilty in late 1995 and received two years of probation.

While he did not go to prison, the conviction was hard on Collier. He was ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution. As a convicted felon, the hunter had to give up his guns.

Beyond that, there were the occasional news articles and Web postings referring to Collier as the guy who killed bald eagles, America's national bird. Sometimes in town, he said, he would get looks that were difficult to ignore.

"For a while, you think people kind of look at you different," Collier said.

But many in and around Charleston, a town of about 5,000 residents, felt Collier was penalized too harshly because he did not intend to hurt the eagles. Among those in his corner was Lanie Black, then the state representative for the region, as well as a friend.

Black and other supporters began writing letters seeking a pardon. Several months ago, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway contacted Black and requested the full story. Hanaway had been asked by a pardon attorney for the Justice Department for input about the possibility of a pardon.