Northern Arapaho Tribe Receives Permit To Kill 2 Bald Eagles For Religious Purposes

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Federal court records show the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to give an American Indian tribe in Wyoming a permit to kill two bald eagles this year for religious purposes.

The Northern Arapaho Tribe filed a lawsuit against the federal agency last year charging that its refusal to issue eagle permits violated tribal members' religious freedom.

Tribe lawyer Andy Baldwin says he believes the agency issued the permit in response to the lawsuit.

The Fish and Wildlife Service a few years ago prosecuted a Northern Arapaho man who killed a bald eagle without a permit for use in the tribe's annual Sun Dance.

The federal government allows American Indians feathers and body parts from dead eagles but it's rare for the agency to issue permits to kill eagles.

Comments

[jackgotney]

01:17 PM on 03/16/2012

To what extent do we allow a religion to practice its own laws. The Muslim's Hadith says you must chop the hand off of a 10 year old girl if she steals twice, that a husband can beat his wife (even to death) for speaking in a high handed way, that it is OK to marry and have sex with a 9 year old girl (like their prophet did). Our secular laws must be obeyed and strange deviations and exceptions from the law based on odd or prmiitive religious beliefs should not be allowed. Let them go to another country if they don't like it.

[jackgotney]

01:09 PM on 03/16/2012

I do not believe in any of these gods who require we sacrifice animals. They are all a bunch of barbarians. And people are such animals to follow them.

[wiegand]

12:29 PM on 03/16/2012

HOW DUMB CAN THE USFWS BE? There in no reason for this permit. In America thousands of eagles have been slaughtered by wind turbines and more are being slaughtered every year. There are more than enough bodies and feathers to go around. They should be stopped at any cost. This permit to kill may actually be linked to a future wind farm installation that will kill eagles in Wyoming. It sets a terrible precedent.

[catherineturley]

02:44 PM on 03/15/2012

i can only hope the the arapaho tribe is overcome with the spirit of mercy.

[Artemesian]

12:48 PM on 03/15/2012

And on the subject of eating dogs, this is how one rep in WI "creatively" tries to justify wolf hunting:

"Rep. Christine Sinicki, D-Milwaukee, offered an amendment requiring hunters who kill wolves to eat them. She said the amendment would help aid in job creation for the state.

“What this amendment does is basically say, if you kill it you got to eat it,” Sinicki said. “That means that we’re going to have to have people who process the meat. There’s some jobs there. [They’re] going to have to have chefs that prepare that meat, too.”"

Desperate much? And don't even get me started on Dan Richards and the mountain lion. These people should not be entrusted with important matters of our government. Wolves and mountain lions and eagles are trophy animals, (im)pure and simple.

[Artemesian]

12:47 PM on 03/15/2012

I actually am not crazy about the killing of wildlife for any reason, especially our national symbol and a native american symbolic bird. But I see that our concern as a nation for our environment and wildlife is on the decline, with all of the economic problems we are having. It's only two birds, but still....and they are issuing permits to kill hundreds of wolves in states where they live. I suppose the government has to justify these killings in some way. Although only two birds in comparison to how many wild and domestic animals are destroyed daily in this country pales by in comparison. Religious purposes is a little better than destroying animals because they are inconvenient and an obstacle to human activities and greed.
We raise animals for food, it's inhumane, but we can always stop that too, or make it more humane.

I don't really know what to say about why we seem to be turning on innocent creatures who cannot speak or defend themselves, but maybe when times are tough we need a scapegoat, which is just as irrational as some seem to think religious purposes are. :(

[jhnnxn]

07:12 AM on 03/15/2012

Quick, somebody make a "logical" connection showing that killing eagles will raise the cost of health care!

[jhnnxn]

07:03 AM on 03/15/2012

Nice to know that the Arapaho's religion is federally approved.

[Jeff Sadowsky]

02:41 AM on 03/15/2012

JUST IN: Bald eagle convocation announces plans for retribution.

[Razpooten]

02:08 AM on 03/15/2012

Two eagles is not going to put them back on the endangered specise list; however, the rutual, is less than a civilized practice.

[maggirl]

04:45 PM on 03/15/2012

Neither is eating body and drinking blood - the christian ritual.

[Razpooten]

05:27 PM on 03/15/2012

True, but that is only a simulation.

[sdshantasi]

02:55 PM on 03/18/2012

Two won't put them back on the endangered list but what happens when the other 300 plus tribes want to do the same thing. BAD precedent.

[askandtell]

12:30 AM on 03/15/2012

Sometimes the birds aren't killed but are made sterile. Calling Erin Brockovich.

[bcstractor]

11:27 PM on 03/14/2012

Talking of killing birds - did you all forget that the largest killer of birds is CATS. Cats don't belong in this country at all.

As usual we ignore the big problem for the more sensational one.

[Razpooten]

02:02 AM on 03/15/2012

Is there any data that shows that cats have a negative impact on wild birds?

[jhnnxn]

07:05 AM on 03/15/2012

You cannot be serious! Google it yourself or wallow in ignorance! Add " New Zealand" to your search parameters. They had a lot of small flightless birds there. Not anymore.

[Just4theHalibut]

11:59 AM on 03/15/2012

http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats/materials/predation.pdf
This is a respected group with scientific underpinnings, I've read many of the studies they cite (with the eye of a scientist, not just as a bird-lover) and they are compelling. And appalling.

[Jeffg70]

09:26 AM on 03/15/2012

Here's an interesting vid of the interaction between cats and bald eagles. http://www.allproudamericans.com/amazing-close-encounter-with-two-eagles.html

[oldbird]

09:48 PM on 03/14/2012

There are lots of bald eagles available through rehabilitation groups that are not releasable, why not use a couple of those rather than killing two birds in the wild. Many birds that cannot be released sit in rehabilitation facilities with no where to go. They are not wanted by zoos, breeding projects and the Fish and Wildlife Service doesn't issue education permits on a timely basis. Don't even get me started on wind project "take" of raptors and other birds...........

[dnsh]

11:35 PM on 03/14/2012

This should pave the way nicely for them to start eating dogs again. After all based on your logic the shelters are full of unwanted dogs. Why not use a couple of them. Why isn't PETA having a heart attack over this killing of two eagles? That's right, they only object when it's white males doing it.

[Razpooten]

02:04 AM on 03/15/2012

And what it the porblem with eating dogs as oppossed to eating chicken and veal?

[GunnisonVern]

08:52 PM on 03/14/2012

Come on Democrats! Where is your spirit of compromise? I see two buckets of KFC.
Seriously though why not provide a couple of tickets to Alaska. Take the eagles in an area where bald eagles are as common as pigeons in central park. Not so in the lower 48.

[averagezoe]

05:44 PM on 03/14/2012

Anyone who kills a sentient being in the name of something as irrelevant and ridiculous as religion is a very sick and depraved individual.

[Artemesian]

09:02 PM on 03/14/2012

How do you feel about manifest destiny then? Europeans came to America and killed thousands of native peoples and took their land because it was in their God's divine plan.

[averagezoe]

10:10 PM on 03/14/2012

Just the same as I feel about anything that's done under the guise of religion - sheer insanity.

[bcstractor]

11:28 PM on 03/14/2012

I think there are other bigger problems than this.