Eagles can't be killed for research and education, but apparently they can
be for religion, an interesting commentary on our society.

>U.S. Plan Would Sacrifice Baby Eagles to Hopi Ritual
>http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/29/national/29EAGL.html
>
>October 29, 2000
>
>By ANDREW C. REVKIN
>
>The Department of the Interior has decided that Hopi Indians should
>be allowed to use golden eagle hatchlings collected at a national
>monument in Arizona in an annual, ancient rite in which the birds
>are smothered.
>
> Department officials say they are trying to tread a difficult path
>to protect wildlife, the park system, the rights of American
>Indians and religious freedom.
>
> But critics say the legal reasoning used by the agency to justify
>its position, detailed in a rule the agency plans to propose next
>month, is so broad that it could open the way to much wider hunting
>and trapping by Indians in parks from Alaska to Florida.
>
> National Park Service officials defend the proposal, which is
>still in draft form, saying it would be applied only to a few clans
>in the Hopi tribe that have a clear, historical link to the few
>eagle nests that dot the windswept plateaus in the 56-square- mile
>park, Wupatki National Monument, which was long tribal territory.
>For generations, young men have scaled cliffs each spring to gather
>eaglets, which are considered messengers between the physical and
>spiritual worlds. The eaglets are reared until July, when they are
>sacrificed to send them to their spirit home.
>
> A copy of the draft rule was provided to The New York Times. The
>section that most concerns critics reads that it is possible that
>the National Park Service "will receive requests from other tribes
>for similar rule changes to address religious practices."
>
> "Such requests will be addressed on their merits, and any rule
>changes would follow the same process as being followed here," the
>proposal reads. "It is also possible at some point that the N.P.S.
>may consider doing a more generic rulemaking on the subject," it
>adds.
>
> Jeffrey Ruch, the executive director of Public Employees for
>Environmental Responsibility, a private group representing 10,000
>federal and state conservation workers, said a survey by his
>organization of more than 40 large parks last spring found that
>half had received requests or demands from tribes for hunting
>rights.
>
> "It may be Wupatki today, but it's likely to be Yellowstone
>tomorrow," Mr. Ruch said.
>
> In a telephone interview, officials at Olympic National Park in
>Washington confirmed the trend and said it certainly applied to
>their park, which has seven tribes along its boundaries that have
>been seeking to hunt elk and other wildlife.
>
> Hunting and trapping is banned in national parks and national
>monuments but is permitted on a limited basis in some national
>recreation areas and on other federal lands if specifically
>authorized by Congress.
>
> The critics, including conservation and animal rights groups and
>some department officials, say that it should be up to Congress,
>not agency officials, to authorize any expanded taking of wildlife
>in the park system.
>
> They say that they respect the Hopis' traditions but that baby
>golden eagles should be collected somewhere other than the Wupatki
>monument, northeast of Flagstaff, which was established in 1924 to
>protect pueblo ruins and scenic mesas and to serve as a wildlife
>sanctuary.
>
> Patricia L. Parker, the chief of the American Indian liaison
>office of the park service, stressed that the rule was a work in
>progress, and that even when it is published in the Federal
>Register possibly as early as the middle of November "the whole
>purpose is to hear what the public thinks."
>
> "We will wait to form an opinion," she said.
>
> Dr. Parker, who is
>an anthropologist, said that the issues are agonizingly complex,
>but that the park service must find ways to mesh preservation of
>natural resources with preservation of cultural riches.
>
> "This is about the ancient needs of a Hopi clan to practice their
>religion as part of the survival of their culture," Dr. Parker
>said. "When you put that in the context of a national park, you
>raise some very complex issues."
>
> The issues arose early last year, when several Hopis entered the
>monument to gather eagles, presenting a general federal permit
>allowing them to collect 40 hatchling golden eagles or red-tailed
>hawks.
>
> They were turned back by park rangers and the monument
>superintendent, who said that the permit did not apply to a
>national monument or park, where taking of wildlife is prohibited
>except for research contributing to preservation of a species.
>
> Leigh J. Kuwanwisiwma, director of the Hopi Cultural Preservation
>Office, then issued a statement complaining that park officials
>were not respecting the rights of the Indians whose ancestors built
>the 900-year- old red-rock settlements now frequented by tourists.
>
> "On one hand," he said, "they eloquently preach about their
>relationships and partnership with the Hopi Tribe and on the other
>hand, they systematically interfere with and prevent practice of
>Hopi religion."
>
> The Hopis complained to Bruce Babbitt, the secretary of the
>interior, who said he favored a loosening of the park rules, at
>least in this case, and asked the department's solicitor general to
>explore a change.
>
> Mr. Babbitt was traveling on Friday and yesterday and was not
>available, a spokesmen said.
>
> Golden eagles are relatively plentiful in the United States, but
>they are protected under a law intended to protect American bald
>eagles.
>
> The process of drafting the rule has created rifts in the
>department, the parks agency, and in private conservation groups,
>all of which have been struggling to find ways to balance Indian
>rights and wildlife laws.
>
> "We have a tradition of working very closely with Native
>Americans, who for years have been environmental allies," said
>Rosalyn Fennell, the director of national parks programs at the
>Wilderness Society, a private conservation group. "I can think of
>no other issue we've worked on recently that has caused this level
>of emotion."
>
> She said she was hopeful that any final rule would be strictly
>limited to the Hopis. "But if this portends the opening of the
>floodgates, where any tribe with ancestral connection to any part
>of a national park can take some animal, we are going to look at
>each case and will vigorously oppose any where we think there is no
>strong connection."
>
> One park service official involved with the Wupatki decision, who
>spoke only on condition of anonymity, said he was "troubled" by
>some of the language in the draft but was confident that the intent
>was to restrict permission to the Hopis.
>
> "It's a can of worms," he said. "In the end, it'll have to be
>battled out in the courts, like most things."
>
> Other park service officials noted that the issue could be moot in
>any case, at least for the Wupatki monument. Some of the
>longstanding nesting sites and eagle gathering sites have not
>been used by eagles in recent years, possibly because so many
>tourists visit nearby ruins.
>

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 253-879-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 253-879-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html