Navajo man upset by disturbance of bald eagle

Environment

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Darrell Pino, a member of the Navajo Nation, said he felt violated when a bald eagle he used in a ceremony was disturbed at a park in Colorado.

Pino waited four years to obtain the bird from the National Eagle Repository. He placed it in a sacred tree in May, only to discover that someone took it out and left it on the ground.

"When it first came out, it saddened my heart," Pino said at a press conference in Boulder, The Denver Post reported. "It's only an animal to you, but to us it's a relative . . . a direct link to our ancestors — a message to the Creator. This relative was brought down from the tree in a very bad way. I hope that at some point in time, our religion will be respected."

The carcass of the eagle was discovered in early June, leading to speculation in news reports that it may have been obtained illegally. ".Why wasn't anyone from the Native American community asked?" said Don Ragona of the Native American Rights Fund.

Get the Story:
Ruined rite with bald eagle upsets Native Americans (The Denver Post 7/14)
Decapitated eagle used in ceremony, Native Americans explain (9News 7/14)