President Bush has pardoned Leslie Owen Collier. Collier is a Missouri hunter and farmer who, in 1995, attempted to help wild turkeys make a comeback in his area by poisoning the coyotes that fed on them. The problem? The poison also killed three bald eagles that scavenged the coyotes' carcasses, and a slew of other birds as well. As killing the national bird is a federal crime, the farmer was sentenced to two years probation, and he had to give up his guns. "I guess I was humbled is the best way to say it—I never thought it would happen," Collier said about his pardon in a phone interview. "It was emotional. I almost came to tears, really."
Read it at Associated Press
