CLAY TWP — State wildlife authorities are hoping someone can provide information about the person who fatally shot a bald eagle that was found in a township creek earlier this month.

“This was a senseless act and it’s disturbing to me and all citizens,” Arthur “Chip” Brunst, Butler County Wildlife Conservation Officer with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said Thursday.

Brunst said investigators continue to gather clues but he declined to say if there are any suspects in the case.

Two teenage girls walking May 5 on Beaver Dam Road found the dead bald eagle in Muddy Creek.

Game Commission officials recovered the carcass. An examination determined the bird was mature, Brunst said, meaning it was 5 years or older. The exam also found it had been shot with a gun.

He said authorities suspect the eagle was “dumped” in the creek after being shot at an unknown location. He refused to disclose how investigators reached that conclusion.

“Based on the deterioration (of the carcass),” Brunst said, “we’re guessing the eagle had been shot within a day or two or three of when it was found.”

The Game Commission is seeking the public’s help to solve the crime.

“We’re asking for any tidbit of information, no matter how small,” Brunst said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Game Commission’s Northwest Region Office at 814-432-3187 or the agency TIP Hotline at 1-888-PGC-8001. All callers can remain anonymous.

Under state law, the shooting of a bald eagle is considered a second-degree misdemeanor and carries a maximum penalty of 12 months in jail, a $5,000 fine and a 7-year loss of hunting privileges.

Additionally, the case may be referred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Commission for further prosecution.

Violating the federal Bald Eagle Protection Act, is punishable by up to a year in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The last bald eagle killed in Butler County was in 2007.

A 17-year-old Butler Township boy was eventually charged and prosecuted in county juvenile court with shooting the bird near the Butler-Center township line.

Pennsylvania’s bald eagle population, meanwhile, continues to grow, said Regis Senko, information education supervisor for the Game’s Commission’s Northwest Region office in Franklin, Venango County.

Bald eagle nests exceeded the 200 mark in 2011. In Butler County, there are five nests, according to the game commission.

While the bird in 2007 was removed from the federal list of threatened and endangered species, it is still considered threatened in Pennsylvania.