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BEAUMONT, Texas — An 18-year-old man from southeast Texas was charged Thursday with illegally shooting and killing two whooping cranes, a species which federal officials list as critically endangered.

Federal game officials arrested Trey Joseph Frederick the same day at his rural home near Beaumont. Witnesses told state and federal game officials that Frederick shot the cranes Dec. 10 in a rural area about 18 miles west of Beaumont.

A U.S. Attorney’s spokeswoman in Beaumont says Frederick is free on bond and had no attorney. Frederick has no listed telephone number and couldn’t be reached for comment.

If convicted of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act violation, he could be sentenced to up to six months in federal prison and fined up to $15,000

The birds were killed in an area 115 miles west of Louisiana’s White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area, where state and federal biologists have released more than 60 whooping cranes, hoping to create a self-sustaining flock. The two killed were a male and female nearly 2 years old — too young to have paired for life.