bald eagle killing, native american sovereignty, native american sun dance, Northern Arapaho, Arapaho tribe, Shoshone
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The Northern Arapaho tribe has won a court case that could lead to its receiving federal permission to kill bald eagles for religious ceremonies on the Wind River Reservation. According to the Chicago Tribune, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dropped its appeal to a previous ruling that stated the government infringed upon the religious liberties of the Northern Arapaho in banning religious kills on reservation land. In that case, federal judge Alan B. Johnson ruled that the First Amendment prohibits the federal government from curtailing the religious rights of one group in favor of another. In this case, the Eastern Shoshone Tribe, which shares the reservation with the Arapaho, opposes the eagle kills based on their own religious beliefs.

In a statement release on Facebook, Dean Goggles, chairman of the Northern Arapaho Business Council, expressed thanks to “Tribal Elders who have taken the lead on this case to protect our most sacred ceremonies and the importance of the eagle to those ceremonies and our way of life.”

Steve Segin, spokesman for the FWS, said the agency decided that the best way to deal with the issue was with a new permit application rather than a continued court battle. Though they have not yet arrived at any decisions, Segin said, “The permit, if issued, would be valid for one year.”

This case originated with the 2005 prosecution of tribal member Winslow Friday for killing a bald eagle to use during a sun dance, a seven-day celebration intended to restore health to individuals and the tribe as a whole. Per the Casper Star Tribune, Goggles defended the tribe’s stance based on religious practices and claimed that the right to practice their traditions without the fear of prosecution. “The Tribe needs to protect any Arapaho who is legitimately taking an eagle for religious ceremonial purposes,” stated Goggles. Friday eventually pled guilty in tribal court and was ordered to pay a fine.

In 2012, NPR reported on what was then an unprecedented permission for the Northern Arapaho to kill two bald eagles so long as they were taken from outside the confines of the Wind River Reservation. Until then, tribes had to apply for eagle parts, such as feathers and bones, with Colorado’s National Eagle Repository. Crawford White, an Arapaho ceremonial elder, said that the tribe uses tail feathers and whistles of eagle bone in ceremonies such as the sun dances. The problem with using the repository, however, lies in the quality of the birds delivered. On occasion, badly decomposed birds and even the wrong species have been delivered to the Wind River Reservation.

Photograph courtesy of Chris Parker/Flickr