NAC Teams Up with Liberty Wildlife and US Fish & Wildlife Services to Offer Training on Pilot Feather Repository Program
On August 11th, dozens of people attended an informational session given by The Liberty Wildlife Rehabilitation Foundation (Liberty Wildlife) and US Fish & Wildlife Services.
The session was hosted by Native American Connections and was designed to introduce a two-year pilot program, that will begin this fall, to assist Native Americans throughout the country to lawfully acquire migratory bird carcasses, their parts and feathers. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, in cooperation with Liberty Wildlife established this program, making Liberty Wildlife only the second organization granted to provide Native Americans, with a permitted source, to obtain non-eagle feathers from federally regulated migratory birds for religious and cultural use.
The meeting which lasted two hours included an overview of the pilot program, a detailed power point presentation, a Q & A session and an interactive discussion, with Liberty Wildlife's CEO Megan Mosby and three representatives from US Fish & Wildlife Services.
Meeting guests were treated to appearances by a Red Tailed Hawk and an Eagle. Many members of the community honored the birds in various ways including blessings and songs.
Native American Connections is proud to be connecting Liberty Wildlife and US Fish & Wildlife Services with the Native community. All agencies are looking forward to a great partnership as the pilot program gets underway. For more information on the obtaining permits for non-eagle feathers call Liberty Wildlife at 480.998.5550 or visit www.non-eaglefeathers.net