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March 15th, 2012
10:33 PM ET
Feds grant Native American tribe permit to kill bald eagles for religious purposesBy Eric Fiegel, CNN Washington (CNN) - It's the symbol of America, and for the first time, the U.S. government has granted a Native American tribe a permit to kill two bald eagles for religious purposes. The permit application was filed in 2008 by the Northern Arapaho Tribe in Wyoming and, after years of review, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued it on March 9.
"They did make a case for why the take of a bird from the wild was necessary," Matt Hogan, Denver regional director for the Fish and Wildlife Service, told CNN. Last year, the tribe filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the federal government for denying the application, saying it "unreasonably burdens the religious rights of tribal members," court documents stated. The case is pending. Hogan, who was in charge of granting the permit, says the lawsuit was not the reason the permit got approved when it did. He says it took time to make sure all the criteria were met and that the permit was in accordance with the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which allows bald eagles to be used by Native Americans in religious ceremonies. The eagle "flies higher then any other creature. It sees many things. It's closer to the Creator," said Robert Holden, deputy director of the National Congress of American Indians. Holden said he was bothered by the comments he was hearing: that this permit would lead to a mass killing of bald eagles. "How stupid can that be?" he said. "It's a religion. It's what we do. We're more concerned about the eagle population than any culture in this Western Hemisphere. Why would we want to kill all the eagles?" Hogan said the permit's issuance will have little effect on the powerful raptor. Taking two eagles from the wild "will not in any way jeopardize the status of the eagle population, either in the state of Wyoming or nationwide," he said, "and the good news is bald eagles are doing quite well." That wasn't the case some 70 years ago, when the species was threatened with extinction, leading Congress to pass a law prohibiting the killing, selling or possession of the bird. In 2007, the bald eagle was removed from the threatened and endangered species list. Hogan said applications for a permit to kill or capture a bald eagle are rare. Native Americans often have to get bald eagle feathers for their ceremonies from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife national feather repository in Denver. Hogan said it can take years for the tribes to get the feathers this way, because demand often exceeds supply. Holden, who is part Choetaw/Shickasaw, sought to put some perspective on the situation: "If someone ordered a Bible or some religious artifact and they had to wait for a long time, how fair is that?" The permit is good until February 2013, and Hogan said he knows of no other applications being filed. As part of permit, the tribe has to notify the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service within 24 hours once the bald eagles are killed or captured. Hogan said he is still waiting for that word. soundoff (1,883 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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do they have to kill the eagle's? They are beautiful and majestic birds. Can't they pretend, I thought native American's lived in eqaulibrium with nature. So if they kill 2 eagles can we kill two indians.
Your view of Native Americans is apparently from childhood Disney movies. And no, there are no permits to kill humans.
Really? What do you call 'war', Falsies?
PFY, I'm not bitter. I'm actually very happy, but unlike you, I do have the courage to face the facts, and the fact here is, what I stated is straight out of your nasty bible. Read Leviticus and Numbers too. Do you deny it? Refute it with a clear argument, or at least have the courage to admit that you can't. Your empty declarations and your ad hominems about me carry no weight.
And don't waste your time on prayer. 1 pair of hands working to fix a problem does more good than 10 million pairs of hands praying.
Ask yourself, why does god never make amputated limbs grow back, even though many amputees ask sincerely to be healed and many amputees are wonderful people.
Ask the questions. Break the chains. Be free of religion in 2012.
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/
You still stuck with the OT? How many time have ya been told about the New Covenant and the promise of forgiveness and Grace in Christ Jesus? It appears you refuse to accept the new covenant.
You seem to be suffering from the malady of selective memory.
Nope, you fail again. The OT laws still apply. Read Matthew. But even if you think the OT was god's mistaken first go around, you have to ask why a perfect, loving enti-ty would ever put such horrid sacrifice instructions in there. If you think rationally at all, that is.
So get out your sacrificial knife or your nasty sky creature will torture you eternally. Or just take a closer look at your foolish supersti-tions, understand that they are just silly, and toss them into the dustbin with all the rest of the gods that man has created.
Please, stop referencing that Christian book of nasty, AKA the bible, as a guide to, well, anything.
Ask the questions. Break the chains. Be free of religion in 2012.
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/
You see, everyone is squaking about religious freedoms and of course since this is a non-christian ritual, people have a problem with it. I think there should always be a limit on religious freedom, especially when there are other people/creatures involved. Religion is a relic of the past and should get a total overhaul every 100 years or so to fit the times.
If the birds are endangered and a natl symbol......I would have a BIG problem with Baptists, Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Buddists or Non-Believers killing Eagles. No disrespect to our native Americans, but this is wrong.
Oh Really,
Give me a break, there were lots of things done many years ago, which were horrible, what the indians want to do is unnecessary, and they know it.
Prayer changes things .
Yeah, the temperature of the air in front of you.... Prayer only lets people have a false sense of direction, just applying yourself to a goal does the same thing.
Sorry, religious ritual or not, we are living in the 21st Century, and any animal sacrifices, no matter what religion, is absolutely ridiculous and uncalled for! It's just a sorry excuse to kill animals in the name of religion.
There's a reason why they needed a permit to kill the eagles, they are protected!
KENTUCKY FRIED EAGLE UMMMMM
I take it you never eat any animal products then? Because those animals are being used....
I truly respect the rights of animals but I agree that the Arapaho have rights dictated by their religion, especially in their own territory. They revere the birds too much to drive them to extinction. The WHITE MAN did that as they would have the Arapahos, or any other native Americans long ago.
not a problem their off the list as long as they hunt responsibly
Does this mean if you practice the ancient myan religion you can get a kidnap and beheading permit?
What's all tha white people mad about
John Wayne killed bald eagles! Let the Indians do it too!!!
The bald eagle may be a symbol of the United States, but Northern Arapaho Tribe has it's own tribal sovereignty which is thankfully being respected by 'our' country. To call something like this 'stupid' only displays the inherent ethnocentric bigotry that is so prevalent in our society. Long live their traditions.
totally agree
I've been waiting for the day I could shoot one down so I could deep fry it for Thanksgiving. Now that would be American!
Turduagle!!
Do I agree with this? No. Would I have granted the permit? No. But I'm not the one preaching religious freedom with ever other breath either. This is where you can see the true hypocricy of the conservatives. It doesn't matter how crazy Christian ideas can become or how much it infringes on others rights, beliefs or even health, they always claim religious freedom until their throats are raw. And more often then not (at least before the recent debates this year) the country obliges them. But when some other group claims religious freedom for what they want to do, it's suddenly just not good enough for any reason.
Religious freedom for all or religious freedom for none. Pick one and stick with it.
Cant they just pluck some of the eagle's feathers, then give him some rogaine so they grow back???
haha well said.
Christians, you also fail on explaining why the sacrifice instructions in the bible were ever put in there.
What I am presenting is straight from your sick bible and you clearly can't refute it. It is quite on topic because the subject is animal sacrifice required by religion. Read it again, and respond in detail or just go away:
The bible is very clear that you should sacrifice and burn an animal today because the smell makes your sicko Christian sky fairy happy. No, you don't get to use the parts for food. You burn them, a complete waste of the poor animal.
Yes, the bible really says that, everyone. Yes, it's in Leviticus, look it up. Yes, Jesus purportedly said that the OT commands still apply. No exceptions. But even if you think the OT was god's mistaken first go around, you have to ask why a perfect, loving enti-ty would ever put such horrid instructions in there. If you think rationally at all, that is.
So get out your sacrificial knife or your nasty sky creature will torture you eternally. Or just take a closer look at your foolish supersti-tions, understand that they are just silly, and toss them into the dustbin with all the rest of the gods that man has created.
Please, stop referencing that Christian book of nasty, AKA the bible, as a guide to, well, anything.
Ask the questions. Break the chains. Be free of religion in 2012.
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/
Bob, I don't know what happened to make you so bitter, but taking the Lord's words out of context does not really make a good argument. That aside, I will pray for you. God Bless.
PFY, I'm not bitter. I'm actually very happy, but unlike you, I do have the courage to face the facts, and the fact here is, what I stated is straight out of your nasty bible. Read Leviticus. Do you deny it? Refute it with a clear argument, or at least have the courage to admit that you can't. Your empty declarations and your ad hominems about me carry no weight.
And don't waste your time on prayer. 1 pair of hands working to fix a problem does more good than 10 million pairs of hands praying.
Ask yourself, why does god never make amputated limbs grow back, even though many amputees ask sincerely to be healed and many amputees are wonderful people.
Ask the questions. Break the chains. Be free of religion in 2012.
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/
Facing the trite hypocrisy of religion can indeed make one bitter, however, Bob isn't taking anything out of context here. The Bible is very specific and exceedingly redundant about how to sacrifice animals, smear the blood on your clothes, on the door of your tent, etc. The context is pretty clear – the context is "how to sacrifice a ram so that its sweet savor is pleasing to the Lord."
The New Testament did of course change all that ... by upping the ante to the bloody sacrifice of a human.
Bob, thank you for touching on a subject that no Christian; Protestant or Catholic, has ever been able to explain or get around. The simple fact that the Bible makes countless references to animal sacrifice. Just like all the other Religions before it. The biggest case of monkey see monkey do in the history of Man. Your work is putting the spot light on something that every person that loads the kids up in their SUV and goes to Church every Sunday chooses to ignore. I know other people have tried to shed light on this, but no one has ever done it the way you do. Effortlessly and quite adeptly putting all of them in their place. Please keep doing what you do.
I would like to say in a separate response that I do believe in God. I honestly do. I have seen things that make me believe in him. By the same token, I have seen far too many things that have made me stop believing in people. They have their own agendas. Those agendas taint and ruin the religion that they claim to love so much. Religion has been ruined by the people that made it. Not by God.
Religious freedom is being fought for in BLOOD as we speak. The tribes have a right to exercise their religion. They can help although most are not ready for it. The earth will change this eventually.
This is outrageous.... To sacrifice any animal is just cruel. Does this mean I can simply choose to sacrifice any non-endanger animal for "religious" purposes. To suggest that they should get a "free pass" by blaming the settlers/military is just a sad excuse. These birds are nation treasures. They should be protected.
They can be protected on US territory. If Native Americans want to kill them on their territory, we can't stop them.
And we almost had the "Majestic Turkey" as our national bird, does that mean we are horrible people for eating one or two on Thanksgiving?
To add... Yes, you can kill any non-endangered animal for religious purposes. Do I think you really believe in anything like that? No, so STFU and let people have their peace and solace.
It's obvious why they want to kill the bald eagle. It's our national bird and a great symbol of America and that's exactly why they want to kill it.
They've been killing bald eagles since long before the very idea of America existed.
I would expect any egocentric American to think that the Native Americans are surely out for revenge on all of us so many years after the (horrible and unspeakable) things we did to them. And of course, killing our national bird is really going to tear us down. Really? We are the least of their worries. I love this country, but WOW there are a lot of uneducated people out there.
This is the most stupid thing I have ever heard of. The eagle is our national bird for our country. I think the Indians have been smoking too much of something. I beieve that there permit should be be voided, to heck with their tradition.
The bald eagle may be a symbol of the United States, but Northern Arapaho Tribe has it's own tribal sovereignty which is thankfully being respected by 'our' country. To call something like this 'stupid' only displays the inherent ethnocentric bigotry that is so prevalent in our society. Long live their traditions.
What religion do you practice? To heck with their traditions? hmmm I think Kyle has it right...."To call something like this 'stupid' only displays the inherent ethnocentric bigotry that is so prevalent in our society." Isn't this religious persecution why our founders fled England?
I wonder how you bozos would react if the Native Americans claimed their culture and their religious beliefs required them to sa crifi ce a virgin of, say 14? Suppose they said their beliefs demanded that they ra p e children as part of a religious ceremony? Or just club a few kids to death?
It was good enough for the ancient Aztecs, right?
Or is it just that as long as it's only a bird, no big deal?
Hypocrites.
*crickets chirping* Big surprise. You blowhards are speechless.
I suppose you dic ks approve of female 'circu mcision' (mutilation), too, right? After all, it's a cultural tradition in many African nations and girls are subjected to it even if they're living right here in the US. Is that okay by you?
Let me guess...you're CHristian, right?
It would help, Old Stupid Bird, if you addressed your response to a particular poster. Of course, that would require that:
1) You knew what poster you were addressing and
2) You actually had something substantive to say
I doubt you can fulfill both requirements, but do attempt to surprise me.
Tom, Tom blah blah blah:
I think you're hearing crickets not because you blew everyone away, but because you are being a di.ck and no one is interested in responding to you.
Yet here YOU are. With no rebuttal. Hmm. Guess that blows your argument all to Hell, doesn't it, ya fuckhard?
Thanks for playing!