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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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Two bald eagles doesn't sound like a lot. But my concern is that it'll just be a gateway bird. Sooner or later, they'll get the idea to kill even bigger birds–like turkeys, or chickens–in large numbers for consumption. Then what?
Gateway bird....
Priceless.
That's really bad news for two unsuspecting Eagles. This Religious "BS" in all cultures is from the stone age when man heard thunder and thought it was a God that was angry. This permit upsets me. Since when does the Government grant permission to murder animals for some stupid Religion; and what Religion could call itself a Righteous Religion that has the sacrificing of a living thing as part of it's ceremomy? This Country is run by idiots, and inhabited by bigger ones.
Feel free to move......
I live in Alaska – here we see thousands of bald eagles at a time along the sea coast. They are just '4th of July Buzzards' to us. I'm sure if you cleaned up the enviroment in your town, and, had all the native species of fish swimming in the streams and waters like 200 years ago – you would have them in your hometown too. But – you are eiether too damn lazy or too busy to do this...... so you dont have them....... and then you want to force the people who do have them to treat them better than you and your town does? Cubical crusaders for the enviroment, huh?
That sucks you have to deal with all of those buzzards. Alaska sounds terrible.
Are they going to use a traditional Bow and Arrow or just grab the Whitemans Gun. Maybe they need to sit in a nest and play dead.
They have developed a "bird magnet" out of empty whisky bottles and beeds.
1) There is no god. Religion spoils everything. Leave the damn birds alone, and to hell with the screwy, dark-ages voodoo tribal rites of the native americans.
2) The so-called native americans have not "earned the right" to slaughter these birds just because they were killed by our ancestors. That was hundreds of years ago. Get over it and keep raking in your money from all of your casinos that you don't have to pay taxes on and levae the damn birds alone.
Hire sarah Palin to shoot them from a helicopter.
Catholics think contraception goes against God. Mormons used to think you should have 20 wives. Some African voodoo tribe thinks ground up bones from albinos have special magic powers. Let's make sure we are not "unreasonably burdening the religious rights" of them too.
Legislate for the greater good of all and quit bending over backwards for religion. If their God is as great as they make him out to be, I'm sure he'll cope.
Did the Europeans have permits when they killed most of the native American people? If they want to kill a few birds (non-endangered), I think they have earned that right.
Yeah but golly, that was like years ago and stuff. Don't they know the eagle belongs to the United States of America now?!?
The crazy thing about Stephen Colbert, if you think about it, is that his character isn't really extreme enough to catch the reality.
I wonder if you were one of those eagles if you feel they had earned that right to ki!! you too?
Do animals have value in their own right, or are they valuable only as they are useful to human beings? Bioethics vs religion again....using plants/animals for food is one issue; but for etheral reasons is quite another. If you disagree with U.S. Fish & Wildlife let them know: http://www.fws.gov/
I dont use them for food. I burn them for fuel in my Jesus train.
In the end history will show that Native Americans were good stewards of the land and it's creatures – we may not understand why this is to be done, but for certain they do not do this out of disregard for nature – as Americans often did and still do...
They are birds. Get over it.
And you named avatar after a cowardly murderer of one of the most significant and beloved presidents in history. Nobody cares what you have to say. And too bad the indians didn't apply for a permit to bag you.
Let's not forget people that Native Americans were here a long time before the U.S was colonized..
Oh, yeah. I forgot.
we should be able to harm two indians and see if it makes a difference
Why only 2, why not 22million? Wait, we already did that.
Well, considering 'we' almost killed all of 'them' in a mass genocide, that's actually a pretty atrocious thing to say. Like a German making jokes about harming Jews.
I think all Indians or native Americans have been hurt in more ways than most will ever know.
Why can't human beings just let nature take its course in this world we live in?
If human beings let nature take its course human beings would be killing, raping and pillaging everything.
Tony... may you would,, but I think you are wrong.. humanity has had community preservation values / morals long before any mythic tale was created to take claim for it. NOTE: many still native isolated tribes have community values...They do not go on raping and murdering rampages like you suggest. Christianity was not created as a moral standard for humanity. it was created as a way to control the masses using a Jewish mythic base that was needed to control the Jewish population at the time who were violent and anti Roman threat to Roman rule.
Read Caesar's Messiah for more details on that.
So what does this sacrifice get them? Free high speed internet? The eagle "flies higher then any other creature. It sees many things. It's closer to the Creator." .... therefore let's kill it to make the Creator happy and make him happy with us... What an outrage! How about just leaving it be so that I and my children's children can experience it's majesty.
Yeah, its compleatly irrational, unlike eating zombie flesh on Sundays or chopping off 4skin.
i remember my first time to kill a bald eagle...wait, no i dont because i'm an American who respects the eagle, and wants to protect the symbol of our nation.
Oh, well, good for you. Maybe if you were a part of a soverign nation who's land had been stolen by white-eyes you would feel differently.
It's a good thing ole Ben Franklin didn't get his choice of the Turkey as national bird.
We'd probably be celebrating Thanksgiving with roasted eagle.
Just another excuse to kill an endangered animal. Sorry; I have nothing but the deepest respect for Native Americans but the world has changed and religion cannot be used as a reason for killing animals any longer.
The Bald Eagle is not an endangered species and hasn't been for some time.
The Bald Eagle is not endangered.
They can burn a U.S. flag or urinate on the Bills of Rights while they are at it...
True, but what's your point.
Yes, they can, thankfully. Because we aren't the Third Reich. But, of course they won't because this ritual has nothing to do with the symbols of the United States but rather their ancient relationship to the animals. They've had this ritual with eagles for thousands of years BEFORE the US came into being and before our culture nearly wiped those birds from existence.
The arrogance of my countrymen is one of the most shameful things I've ever witnessed in this world.
@Zeke – Exactly. The Bald Eagle was part of their culture and ceremonies long before their people were murdered, robbed, and sent to concentration camps by a very misguided nation at the time.
I, for one, bet the feather head dress will be bad-a**, and they will hold it very sacred. I would like to see it. As long as they only kill two, it will be ok. Let's not overreact. This is just another example of the media artificially dramaticising a story with unnecessarily inflamatory headlines.
Exactly.
Killing majestic predators (the top of the food chain!) for religious reasons? NOT ALLOWED. Sorry guys, this is a modern and industrialized world. Every remaining animal is extremely valuable and important. I have zero sympathy for the outdated religious practices of this tribal culture.
And really? This is what native americans do with their influence? This is the wrong priority. I'll vote to reduce this influence then.
Your world is modern and industrialized. The last time I checked the reservations were so restricted by the govt they could barely feed their families and educate their youth.
I just love how people can justify the killing of "God's Creatures" in the name of God. What a crock of B.S.!
Well, actually, if you bothered to read the article, there is not one mention of God, as most native american tribes don't believe in God...
Does this mean that we can kill the Native Americans who are killing what some Americans would call a sacred bird? Isn't that protecting our religious freedom? Makes sense to me.
You're an !d!0t
Does it mean we can do away with the white's who did away with the native americans? 🙂 Does it mean we can do away with the hunters who do away with defenseless creatures? I bet if the creatures had the same tools that hunter do, there would be a lot of new cowards amongst us. 🙂
"Does it mean we can do away with the white's who did away with the native americans?"
Yes, by all means, you are allowed to go kill the people directly involved with taking the land away from Native Americans. Not their ancestors, just the people who were directly involved with the theft. So you know, if you wanna go on a hunt for General Custer, by all means, have a go. But word on the street is, he died over 100 years ago.
@John B,
Good points.
Although, I'm not sure what an eagle would actually do with a shotgun.
The federal government is your church?
The moron count continues....................
Me
Does this mean that we can kill the Native Americans who are killing what some Americans would call a sacred bird? Isn't that protecting our religious freedom? Makes sense to me.