BGEPA provides criminal penalties for persons who “take; possess; sell; purchase; barter; offer to sell, purchase or barter; transport; export or import, at any time or any manner, any bald or golden eagle, alive or dead, or any part, nest or egg thereof.”
BGEPA defines “take” as pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, molest, or disturb. Disturb means to agitate or bother a bald or golden eagle to a degree that causes, or is likely to cause, based on the best scientific information available, (1) injury to an eagle, (2) a decrease in its productivity, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior, or (3) nest abandonment, by substantially interfering with normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering behavior.