Thursday, March 31, 2011

U.S. appeals court says eagle feathers reserved for tribal members only

In a case pitting religious freedom against preservation of wildlife and tribal culture, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a non-Indian practitioner of a Native American faith tradition could be prosecuted for possessing eagle feathers. The case required the court to weigh the government's obligation to refrain from imposing burdens on an individual's practice of religion against its duty to protect wildlife and Indian tribal culture. Samuel Ray Wilgus, a non-Indian resident of Utah, was arrested in June 1998 for possessing 141 feathers of bald and golden eagles. The federal Eagle Act bans the possession of eagle feathers or parts except for certain uses, including "the religious purposes of Indian tribes." Federal regulations provide the exception only to members of recognized tribes who obtain permits and feathers from the National Eagle Repository in Commerce City, which stores feathers and parts harvested from dead eagles by wildlife authorities. Demand exceeds supply, and the waits for feathers or eagle parts are long. The feathers and parts aren't transferrable, except when handed down from a generation to the next, by one Indian to another...more

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