When I had my Vulture’s wings taken by the Forest Service in Woodstock, NY last year, they put them into bags, and I was cited for a federal violation that I was not aware of. After I proved via writing an extensive letter sanctioned by a traditional Church explaining that I had obtained them in good faith as part of already-extant roadkill, had buried the rest of the body to the best of my ability, and had used them for spiritual worship purposes only, I was required to pay a $25 fine and a $75 surcharge. I asked if they could please dispose of them on the earth or in the fire. I hope and pray that they were released back into the elements, and not left in a trash, but I will never know.
There are people that have received much worse and completely debilitating penalties. But, until the laws are changed (in a way that still holds poachers accountable), I or anyone else who practices traditional animal spirit worship can not legally possess raptor feathers…unless you qualify for, and apply for, corrupt and inherently exclusive permits from the US government.
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 prohibits anyone except “US Government recognized Native Tribal Members” from possessing raptor feathers. The problem is, the US requiring Tribal registration is ironic at best and corrupt and exclusive in reality. The “requirements” have to do with “blood quantum” (that “I’m 25% this, 50% that” stuff) and imperialist control written into English Language laws, and disregard culture, adoption, and spiritual, personal and tribal sovereignty. Since when does a practitioner of ancient AND human-race-wide rites and worship have to apply to a secular body to behold a feather? Since 1918.
I won’t discuss the issue of blood quantum here to any profound extent besides pointing to you to do your research, and quoting the first paragraph of the so-titled WIkipedia entry as follows:
“Blood quantum laws or Indian blood laws are those enacted in the United States and the former colonies to define qualification by ancestry as Native American, sometimes in relation to tribal membership. These laws were developed by Euro-Americans and thus did necessarily not reflect how Native Americans had traditionally identified themselves or members of their in-group, and thus ignored the Native American practices of absorbing other peoples by adoption, beginning with other Native Americans, and extending to children and young adults of European and African ancestry. Blood quantum laws also ignored tribal cultural continuity after tribes had absorbed such adoptees and mixed-race children.”
In other words, these laws do not reflect the reality of Native cultural ideas of who and who are not considered tribal members. Often even folks who live on reservations do not qualify, despite tribal inclusion since birth. But that is a story for those people to tell.
SO, what does all of this mean, practically, for any Native (a word that means “born” in the English language), or any member or participant in Tribal or Indigenous practices, or any spiritual practitioner of any sort, witch, brujo/bruja, shaman, healer, nature worshiper, natural medicine worker, or anyone else? It means that even if a raptor swoops down to your sitting place, speaks to you in tweets, hoots, howls, speech, or telepathic message that it wants you to have its feathers, you cannot accept them and remain in good standing with USA Federal Law. It means that if you find a feather at random, you cannot touch it. It means that if the animal presents its dead body to you and asks you to harvest it for use in prayer, you cannot.
I cannot say whether or not I did everything completely right when I removed the roadkilled vulture’s wings. I was told by a shamanic practitioner to whom at another time I had offered an animal’s tail harvested in a similar manner that I had failed to sufficiently send the animal’s spirit into the light. I had not ever received traditional “in a good way” training in these matters. I merely saw an opportunity to practice a calling that felt inexplicably and powerfully vital deep in my blood and bones, and did what I could to go through motions of honor and respect. I wonder what would have happened if I’d simply made the choice to drive past that day instead of cut apart the body to take what I felt that I needed. I certainly would have had less of a responsibility burden, as what we own ends up owning us… in retrospect 8 years later from when I first wrote this (as I am editing this in November 2025), I certainly would have felt like less of an outlaw, and I would have likely done less harm. But, my personal thoughts and feelings on how I acquired Vulture’s wings by hacking are very much a separate topic than the possession of feathers in general. Though Indigenous folks to a land absolutely should be unencumbered in their natural right to have a sacred relationship with the land, sky, and air and the beings of those realms, why is it that the rest of us have been “legally” severed from that sacred relationship? It does make sense, of course, that the law appears to be there to protect the birds from poaching and illegal harvesting (both decidedly un-sacred acts). Yet, what also happens as a consequence is a real-life metaphorical wing-clipping, wing-removal. Where a person, even if included in the permitted classes, must apply for red-tape permission from the government that has self-professed itself to be separate from Church, to behold the most innocent of religious artifacts.
Most people will know these laws because of the well known Eagle Feather Law, which is actually an exception to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The Eagle Feathers are distributed by the National Eagle Repository, a subsidiary of the National Fish & Wildlife Service. Although the Northern Arapaho were “allowed” in 2014 to kill two eagles for ritual purposes, most eagle feathers come from the Repository, which means that they are not organically found or sacrificed by the people who will be using them, thus creating a disjunct in the spiritual line of connectivity. It is sort of like the difference between buying your meat from a supermarket, and who knows where it comes from, or its history, and raising your own animals or acquiring well-treated meat from a friend in your community, an animal that breathed the same air and drank the same water as you. Whether the Eagle Feather distribution is fair, well, I cannot say. What is NOT fair by any means is that the US government should have the unilateral decisons to prevent people from acquiring their feathers naturally, and instead can abscond, hoard, and redistribute them, but in actuality, they are not being redistributed with any egalitarianism at all.
There is also a repository for non-eagle feathers. Perhaps the wings I had were sent there. A sufficient life for them, considering my fears of them having being discarded, but honestly, considering the corruption I write of, and in the interest of freedom of bird and human, I’d rather have them have been given back to the elements.
SO, which birds are you not allowed to dance with their feathers, or take them home to place on your sacred space? Some of these may shock you. If you are reading this article, you have interest in this issue, and may find you are probably currently violating Federal laws.
WREN
WOODPECKER
SPARROW
PLAIN PIGEON (yes, the same ones that you see in every major city all over the place)
GREAT HORNED OWL
MOCKINGBIRD
SEAGULL (yes, the same ones that steal your snacks at the beach)
FLAMINGO
FINCH
CHICKADEE
BLUEBIRD
RAVEN
CANADA GOOSE (I had to include “bird” in the search engine terms because images for goose down jackets came up. Explain this to me, someone? I can buy a coat made in a sweat shop from hostaged birds, but can’t pray with loose feathers offered to me by the bird itself?)
CROW
BARN OWL
RED TAILED HAWK
CARDINAL
There are many more. Check out the list at the FWS site to see if you are guilty.
It is obviously important to protect these birds against ill-intentioned hunters and tradespeople. But, the current exemptions offered are not enough. They are not available to most people because of laws and restrictions that do not acknowledge the actual nature of how some Native Tribes consider their members. And then, there are waiting lists that can take YEARS. Plus, there are hundreds of tribes that are not federally recognized either because of restrictive laws, or by choice of the tribe themselves. They also exclude anyone who does not participate in or identify with those tribes, for whatever reason whether cultural, religious, ancestral, social, geographic, personal, or otherwise. Basically, unless you meet the US description of “having enough Native American blood,” it’s down pillows for you only.
There is an organization entitled “Religious Freedom with Raptors” that is geared toward changing these laws to allow people to celebrate their practices with feathers and bird parts, but my research found that they are currently inactive. They have a Website but it has not been updated since 2009, when the last outside news article link was made, and the links within the site lead to broken pages. Dr. Dashanne Stokes, the founder of RFR and director until the (assumed) dissolution of the group in 2009, still leads activism for religious and cultural freedoms, but the RFR seems organizationally defunct. Stokes is quoted in an article on Indian Country Today as claiming,
“The eagle law is such a hot button issue, so divisive, and the majority of people who stand to benefit from changing it are geographically dispersed and have little influence, resources, or power on their side,” says Stokes. “In my experience, most people who want to change the law are so afraid that they don’t want to say or do anything out of fear of arrest.”
I would be more than happy to participate in any projects geared toward furthering the work for Religious Freedom with Raptors. If any readers have the resources or ideas or reasons to get involved, or already have mobilized groups or actions that need assistance, please contact me.
Some sites referenced and or cited, not including linked articles
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migratory_Bird_Treaty_Act_of_1918
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_feather_law
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_quantum_laws
http://www.becketfund.org/eaglefeathersreturned/
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-eagles-tribes-idUSBRE84306C20120504
http://www.audubon.org/news/the-migratory-bird-treaty-act-explained
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