CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) — The Maryland Department of Natural Resources says a bald eagle found dead near Cumberland last month died from natural causes, not a gunshot wound.
Natural Resources Police Sgt. Art Windemuth told the Cumberland Times-News on Wednesday that a necropsy concluded a hole in the bird’s breast was made after the eagle was dead.
The agency says the adult bird was found Sept. 16 several miles north of town on Hazen Road along Evitts Creek.
Windemuth says investigators have no leads in the fatal shooting in June of another bird of prey, the state-endangered northern goshawk.
He says the female bird was killed by a blast from a 12-gauge shotgun. She was the only known breeding northern goshawk in the state.
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