Federal wildlife officials are offering up to $5,000 for information about who shot and killed a bald eagle found last month in Bridport. "It's just disheartening that someone would do that," said Mark LaBarr, conservation program manager for Audubon Vermont. The eagle was discovered on the side of East Road by a woman on her way to work October 15. The area, about five miles west of Middlebury, has plenty of dairy farms and pastures. Game wardens had the eagle X-rayed, which revealed six shotgun pellets in its body, said Sgt. David Taddei, a game warden and detective with the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. “Any time a federally protected bird get killed unlawfully, it’s something we’re certainly going to take very seriously,” Taddei said. Bald eagles were removed from the state endangered species list in 2022 following successful recovery efforts. They came off the federal list in 2007. The birds are still protected by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which protect eagles, their nests and eggs. Fines can reach $100,000. Fish & Wildlife is working hard to find the person responsible, Taddei said, mindful that the birds were, until recently, on the state endangered species list. Wardens knocked on doors in the area but didn’t learn much. It’s unclear whether the eagle died from a recent gunshot or succumbed to wounds from an earlier incident, Taddei said. That makes it hard to determine where and when it was shot. He hopes the reward will spur tips. “The public makes a lot of cases for us, and somebody out there certainly knows something about this case,” he said. The eagle had a research band on its leg. Records show it was first observed in Vermont in August 2006. Vermont reintroduced 29 eagles in Addison County between 2004 and 2006, according to Audubon Vermont. An estimated 45 pairs of bald eagles nest in the state, according to the group…