I mentioned earlier that I have a cowboy hat that I wear when I mow my lawn.

There's an area here in Georgia (The Piedmont) where some Bald Eagles hang out. I was thinking it would be cool to have an eagle feather to put in my hat.

While researching the best place to get one, I found out it's illegal to own one. I wasn't going to grab an eagle by the neck and pull a feather out of its butt or anything. I was going to look for one on the ground. But, noooo. The only people who can own one are American Indians, but they have to apply for a permit first.

Does anyone know the spirit of this law? What bad thing happens if someone picks one up off the ground? Why can't an American own a feather from the symbol of America, as long as he doesn't kill an eagle to get it, of course?

If I want an eagle feather, my only choice is to buy a hand painted turkey feather that looks like an eagle feather. No thanks.

 

i think it has symbolic or religious (if they got one) reason for them.

seems that in US, if religion is discussed, they always respect your opinion.

here in china, they will put you to jail, but chopstick between your fingers and press it, then they will beat the living daylights out of your eyes. ([&:] i might go to jail writing this)

 

Yes, it has religous meaning to American Indians. But that still doesn't explain why I can't own one, or why an Indian needs to get a permit to own one.

What I've found out is that in America, you can't pick up or own a feather of any migratory bird. The Bald Eagle is migratory. I think I broke that law many times when I was a kid. Northern Utah is a skipping point for many migratory birds and I remember picking up lots of feathers over the years.

The best reason I can find for this ban is that there's a fear that wholesale slaughter of migratory birds will develop if people pick up their feathers off the ground and make owning them popular. There's concern that a black market for feathers will develop which would lead to killing of live birds just to get their feathers.

Nobody cares about a turkey, though, unless it's Thankgiving Day. Well, except for Ben Franklin... but that was a long time ago.

 

Reasons?

To collect a tax. Always a good idea.

To give free data (habitat, etc.) to some government scientist.

To exercise control over you and me (we need permission from experts for everything).

And, the over reaching idea that if someone has a feather, then maybe they could get more and sell them, which may promote killing the birds to make "collecting" them easier.

Typical government protection thinking IMHO.

 

I have no problem protecting the national bird, especially since it's endangered. Who can do that better than the government? If they weren't protected they'd be extinct. I guess not everyone cares?

I don't think the purpose of the permit is to collect a tax. If that were the case, they'd make more money by allowing anyone to pay for a permit and charging more than just a nomimal processing fee.

I already mentioned the black market potential, which is the overriding reason that ownership is illegal, except for American Indians with a permit. Again, the ban is for all migratory bird feathers, so this isn't a Bald Eagle-specific law. That is, American Indians can't apply for permit to own feathers from all migratory birds, just Bald Eagles.

 

I CARE! a great deal. My point is that the government collects a tax for everything in the name of make work, public supported jobs in general. It is too bad that people can't be self policing with regard to protection of wild life. I would never kill something for a trophy. But, that is me. If I found a dead eagle on the side of the road (possible around here), I would collect it and report it to fish and game. If a feather falls off the carcus, should I be beaten down financially? I'll hide it and send it to you though.

 

We can't police ourselves on something like this. Maybe you can and I can, but as a society we can't. Self-policing proved that we need to protect them. The government isn't in the business of making a profit on programs like this. True, they need to make a profit to pay for the program, but the profit isn't going into someone's pocket to buy a yacht or a mansion or to pay for gambling vacations. Like I said, the government is best able to do this and can do it for much cheaper because there's already an infrastructure to fold it into. Someone's got to do it, I believe.

 

heard last week that the bald eagle has made such a good come back that they are thinking of taking it off the endangered list,

 

Well, that's good to hear. We still won't be able to legally own a feather from one, though.

 

pretty much,fine with me i have some nesting about 5 miles from my place and it's awesome to see em flying around in the river valley in front of my house.