The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act Chief, Migratory Bird
Program The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (16 U.S.C.
668-668c), enacted in 1940, and amended several times since
then, prohibits anyone, without a permit issued by the Secretary
of the Interior, from "taking" bald eagles, including their
parts, nests, or eggs. The Act 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 eagle ... [or any golden eagle],
alive or dead, or any part, nest, or egg thereof." The Act
defines "take" as "pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill,
capture, trap, collect, molest or disturb." For purposes of
these guidelines, "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 breed