Canadian guilty in sale of bald eagle feathers

The Associated Press

SEATTLE — A Canadian Indian who said he was acting in his capacity as a medicine man when he brought eagle feathers and parts into this country was convicted by a federal jury Friday of violating the U.S. law that protects the birds.

Terry Antoine, 47, of Duncan, British Columbia, was found guilty of four counts of violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and one count of illegal importation.

Antoine, who is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 11, faces a maximum 12 years in prison and $600,000 in fines.

Antoine’s lawyer, Michael Filipovic, said he plans to appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He said he was disappointed by the verdict.

Prosecutors applauded the jury for convicting Antoine on all counts. "The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act is an extremely important part of the federal wildlife protection scheme," said Lawrence Lincoln, U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman. "We hope this verdict reminds the public of the continuing need to protect these magnificent birds."

Prosecutors argued that Antoine smuggled eagle remains across the U.S. border without a permit, then sold or bartered them for cash, beadwork and other goods in Washington, Montana and Arizona as part of a black-market scheme.

Antoine’s lawyer, Michael Filipovic, did not deny that his client brought the eagle feathers over the border. However, he said his client was acting as an Indian medicine man when he traded eagle parts to other Indians, who use the parts in religious ceremonies.

"This case is in large part about an effort to impose the laws and values and views of a majority culture and apply it to an individual in a minority culture," Filipovic said.

In closing arguments Friday, prosecutors argued that Antoine knew he was breaking the law, because while he sold beads openly at Indian powwows, he sold eagle parts to Indians discreetly.

"Mr. Antoine would sell openly his beadwork," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Brunner. "What he didn’t sell openly was eagle parts. That was done behind closed doors."

Brunner also countered a defense claim that Antoine gave away eagle feathers, wings, tails and bones as gifts.

"Mr. Antoine set the price. These transactions were not gifts. … The only one who characterized these transactions as gifts was Mr. Antoine, the man with the most to lose," Brunner said, citing witness testimony and records of the defendant’s border crossings and visits to a U.S. storage facility, where parts from nearly 30 eagles were found.

Antoine testified Thursday that he brought the items across the border because tribal elders had given him the rare power to purify the sacred birds for ceremonial use.

Antoine said gift-giving within tribes is a cherished practice that can’t be equated with the capitalist concept of a sale.

Eagle feathers are used by tribes throughout North America to make masks, whistles and medicine bundles used in coming-of-age ceremonies, name-giving rituals, funeral rites and other special occasions.

Once endangered, bald eagles are now listed as threatened in the lower 48 states. They’re protected by law in the United States and in Canada.

In this country, only religious practitioners in federally recognized U.S. tribes can legally obtain eagles or eagle parts, and the wait can be as long as three years. A similar permit system exists in Canada, where waiting lists are much shorter.

Antoine is a member of the Cowichan band of the Salish tribe, which is not recognized by the U.S. government. He has not been accused of killing any eagles.

Antoine told jurors on Thursday that Indians would often bring him dead eagles and ask him to cleanse them for use in ceremonies.

"A lot of people thought I was gifted, because a lot of people who touched these (eagles) would get sick," he said.

During the trial, prosecutors displayed pictures of various eagle parts confiscated from a storage locker Antoine rented in Fife. U.S. Fish and Wildlife forensic ornithologist Pepper Trail said he determined at least 29 bald eagles and a golden eagle had been stored there.

Parts from more than 100 eagle carcasses were discovered at Antoine’s home in Canada, where he faces similar charges.

On the Net:

National Eagle Repository: www.r6.fws.gov/eagle/