Men Killed Hundreds of Birds Who Dared Eat Their Fish

A grey Saturday in South Deerfield, a day to let your eyes close and nap, and one to read the local papers. I picked up the Recorder and found a big front page story about an atrocity against birds. The owner of a Sunderland fish hatchery had more than 250 great blue heron carcasses, 10 dead ospreys and one bald eagle on their grounds. Michael Zak and Timothy Lloyd shot them with rifles as they flew by.

"Ospreys, herons and eagles are all natural predators of fish, so I think you can probably figure out for yourself their motive," said Christina DiIorio-Sterline, of the US Justice Dept. There was no netting protecting the hatchery's trout to keep out the birds. The feds actually watched Zak kill a great blue, with a rifle, as the bird passed by the hatchery. The men face prison time of up to 125 years and $3 million in fines. "I can't wait to see how high they hang these people," said Patricia Carlisle, of Turners Falls, when told of the arrests.