Bald eagle killed on Midlands roadway due to illegal dumping
A bald eagle died on a Sumter County road Thursday after being drawn to fish parts and other garbage illegally dumped in the ditch.
“A resident bald eagle was attracted to the fish parts as a quick meal,” the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources wrote in a Facebook post Thursday. “The eagle was spooked by a passing vehicle and fatally struck the front bumper of the truck.”
Bald eagles are protected in South Carolina and nationally. The Palmetto State boasted the 12th highest number of nesting bald eagle pairs in 2005. As of 2016 the Department of Natural Resources was monitoring more than 350 nesting pairs statewide.
South Carolina regulators as well as national experts who monitor bald eagles warn that traffic collisions are a growing problem for the endangered birds.
