This Week at Liberty

I am often asked the “why” or the “reason” for Liberty Wildlife’s Non-Eagle Feather Repository. In the early days at Liberty Wildlife, we received a call from a Native American community member requesting the tail from a deceased red-tailed hawk, a treasured group of feathers often made into a fan used for regalia and/or ceremonial purposes. The individual making the request needed it for a specific ceremonial occasion, like the ceremony recognizing the passing of a family member….a sadly serious time. Our response always had to be that it was illegal for us to give feathers or bird parts to anyone, as all parts of the birds were protected by federal law.

That law was created to protect native avian species for a good reason. Killing a bird to gain feathers, or for any other reason and there were many, was causing stresses on a number of species. But the law had an unintended consequence and that was the creation of a black market. A tribal member in need of a protected feather to complete a sacred ceremony was faced with no other resource except the black market. We knew that by our turning down the request for a feather, it would undoubtedly result in that person calling to the “black market.” The way that market was fed was by the illegal take (mostly shooting a bird) to cut off the needed tail and sell it to the tribal member. There is nothing right about that situation. It was forcing those who were just practicing a traditional religious ceremony to engage in criminal activity to obtain the necessary feathers.

Our Director of the Non-Eagle Feather Repository, Robert Mesta, knew at the time that we had access to coveted feathers and bird parts, and through his efforts our repository was formed. In the early 1970s the US Fish & Wildlife service had created the National Eagle Repository to provide eagle feathers to Native Americans for ceremonial purposes. Under a special permit issued in 2010, Liberty Wildlife’s repository was created to provide for over 12,000+ other protected species. The program is almost unique in the United States.

And since we started providing feathers, carcasses, and bird parts to Native Americans, we are now approaching 7,000 orders sent out to Native Americans belonging to 256 Tribes located in 46 of the 50 states. Each of those orders represents one less illegal take made by black market brokers.

This week we received a box of carcasses from a law enforcement agency from the northern part of the state. Our facility depends on donations of carcasses and feathers from agencies, zoos, other rehabbers, and similar places that are legally allowed to have them. This helps us keep up with the demand to a certain extent. While we are grateful to have more things to send out to legally recognized Native Americans, we are often saddened by why some of these deceased birds are brought in.

The delivery received on Thursday sadly contained, among other things, the carcass of a ferruginous hawk. When examined we found that the hawk was in law enforcement’s possession because it was turned in to them deceased…not by accident or illness, but by gunshot….and yes, it was missing its tail. Someone acted out the scenario that we most dread and have worked very hard to rectify, but there is much left to be done.

It is one thing to talk about this scenario….quite another thing to confront it in real time, real life.

We exist to help both preserve cultures and to help conserve native birds.

We try to educate the Native American community that there is now a legal way to obtain these needed cultural items. We are striving to reach out to every agency that is legally allowed to have these feathers, carcasses, and bird parts to inform them that we are here and appreciate their efforts to help with our inventory.

If we can all work towards this goal, then the shock of the tail-less gunshot ferruginous hawk will not shatter our world anymore.