ANGLETON (April 7, 2009)--Volunteers are rehabilitating a wounded bald eagle that two fishermen found after it fell from its nest near the Brazos River while, federal wildlife officers try to find the person who shot the protected bird.

Marty Hernandez, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Houston, said shooting a bald eagle is a federal misdemeanor, and a conviction can carry a sentence of as much as six months in federal prison.

Dana Simon, a volunteer with Gulf Coast Wildlife Rescue, said the bird had shotgun pellets in its legs and abdomen as well as a fractured right wing.

The Facts reported that fishermen Mark Sydow and Chip Rhone monitored the bird overnight Friday after watching it make its way to the riverbank.

The men sent Simon a photo of the bird by cell phone and she took in the bird on Saturday.

It has since been turned over to the director of Lone Star Wildlife Rescue to continue its rehabilitation.