A New York man pleaded guilty last week to charges related to capturing and killing federal protected hawks.
According to Connecticut’s U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly, Thomas Kapusta, 63, of Long Island, pleaded guilty to four counts of taking, capturing and killing the red-tailed hawks and Cooper’s hawks, as well as one count of conspiracy to do the same.
The hawks are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
They prey on pigeons, and Kapusta, who races pigeons and has a coop in Stamford, admitted that he and an associate viewed the hawks as a threat to their birds, so they captured the hawks in a trap and shot them in September and October of last year, according to prosecutors.
Kapusta will be sentenced in May. He faces a maximum penalty of 30 months in prison and a fine as high as $75,000.
