>So apparently at least some Native Americans are involved in both the
>selling and the buying, but I'd like to get more information about the
>extent to which this is either an Indian or an Anglo operation. Does
>anyone know more?
>
>Burt Guttman

The Pacific Northwest incident was about 80% Indian, with a few whites
thrown in, but it was clear that the eagles were being shot so the feathers
could be sold at a profit, and that the Native Americans felt secure in
doing this because, after all, it's legal for them to possess the feathers.
They were illegal only because they sold them, and they were busted
because they sold some to white federal agents. Sadly, few people were
prosecuted from this action; most had lawyers probably paid for by their
other criminal activities, which were varied.

I saw nothing in the USFWS posting from the Four Corners to indicate a very
different scenario. The Indian involvement has to be very strong; many of
the people dealing in these feathers probably know they're illegal.
Apparently, this business is just another kind of lucrative crime that
happens to involve some birds.

These are criminals conducting these activities, and the only reason I make
a stink about it is that it involves a group of people who have the right
to possess these feathers (illegal for the rest of us) but who have badly
misused that right, and without making some foolproof laws to control it,
this stuff will go on.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 206-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 206-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416
web site: http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html