Posted on 02/18/2023 5:32:57 AM PST by Saije
Afederal jury found a Hardin, Montana man guilty of selling eagle feathers in South Dakota Tuesday.
The jury found that Harvey Hugs, 59, is guilty of three counts of violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act in 2020 after a two-day trial at the federal courthouse in Rapid City.
The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act was enacted in 1940. The act prohibits the possession, use and sale of eagles or their feathers and parts. Exceptions to the act include the use of eagles by Native Americans. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service operates the National Eagle Repository as a clearinghouse for eagles and eagle parts to provide Native Americans with eagle feathers for religious and cultural use.
For violating the act, Hugs faces a maximum penalty of two years in federal prison and/or a $250,000 fine, one year of supervised release, and a $300 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund, according to a U.S. Attorney's Office press release.
According the U.S. Attorney's Office, Montana authorities received information in February 2020 that Hugs was involved in trafficking golden eagle feathers. Between Aug. 20, 2020 and Nov. 3, 2020, law enforcement used recorded phones call and text messages in which Hugs offered to sell various eagle feathers.
On two separate occasions, he sold golden eagle tails for several hundred dollars each. On a third occasion, Hugs sold a set of golden eagle wings and a gold eagle tail for $1,000. He then shipped the feathers to South Dakota.
(Excerpt) Read more at rapidcityjournal.com ...
These rules are so stupid. Eagles fly all over my place being near a river. They hunt for fish and when they preen themselves they drop feathers all the time. Same with the hawks and other raptors.
If I had a windmill I could kill them with impunity but pick up one of their feathers and off the club fed.
Take a trip to Klammath lake in Southern Oregon. They are everywhere.
Women’s hats.
I kind of disagree with that. Golden eagles cab become very large, they are impressive to say the least. The bald eagle looks pretty scrawny and weak by comparison.
The solution for this guy is to identify as a “Native American”. I mean he was born here, correct? Sounds pretty Indigenous People. Who are we to argue with “My Truth” anyway?
I’ve seen quite a few Golden Eagles on the wing here in the San Francisco Bay Area and they are definitely impressive and beautiful birds. But nothing like the Bald Eagle.
We spend a lot of time north of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Every late fall, the landlocked Kokanee Salmon spawn at the north end of Lake Coeur d’Alene and the eagles come in big numbers to feast on the easy pickings. On a good year, you have 300 to 400 of them congregated in a small area. They are in the trees, on the docks, sitting on pilings, on the beach, in the air, fishing in the lake. It’s an amazing sight to see. We went late this year (after Christmas) and only saw a dozen or so. It varies day by day, too. A photographer said the day before we got to Higgins Point there were lots more eagles.
‘Merica!
I should take a picture of the eagle feathers littering the ground below my friends two tall cedars in his front yard.
ANTIFA burning down entire cities don’t get this level of attention.
Fauxcahontas did it.
Or, get a DNA test like I did. Most Americans are mutts. I tested out with just a smidge of “Aztec” blood. Most probably, I have a distant ancestor who was a slave to the nearby Aztecs and worshiped the Spaniards when they showed up and destroyed that monstrous empire.
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