cross bred cats

Did you know that it is illegal in the United States to collect feathers? Iapos;m not talking game birds such as pheasants or turkeys, or exotic birds such as peacocks or cockatoos. Those are totally okay. Iapos;m talking wild birds. According to U.S. Fish Wildlife, no one can collect, keep or sell even a single feather from any North American bird. Period. The only exceptions to this are certain sanctioned Native American tribes for religious purposes only (known as the Eagle Feather Law, which is in constant contention and litigation,) and federally permitted wildlife rehabbers, who may keep a tiny few for imping* purposes.

The reason for this seemingly draconian prohibition came about as a backlash against feathers as decorations. Between 1870 and 1927, society went gaga over them and proceeded to stick them on just about everything. According to a May 2007 Home Garden� article by Patricia Thompson titled, "Backyard Feathers in your cap? Itapos;s against the law," during that time period, "...tens of millions of birds were slaughtered to decorate hats." To combat that, a law was enacted to prevent such atrocities, and it remains in effect today. The fear is that without it, society would revert and the slaughter would resume. Given the ongoing craze for fur, itapos;s not unfounded.

Now, most likely the average person who picks up a feather in the woods and sticks it in a collection somewhere in their bedroom will never run afoul of the authorities. Neither DNR nor the feds will beat down your door for it. But, if you hang it from your rear view mirror or decorate your living room with it and someone reports you, or a zealous officer sees it in plain view while in your residence for whatever other reason, thereapos;s a very good chance youapos;ll end up paying a fine.

Even Hillary Clinton was not above the law on this one. Back when she was still First Lady, a supporter gave her a dream catcher with eagle feathers on it. The feds seized it and the supporter was fined $1200 for having and selling them.

As rehabbers, we often run into this situation. Volunteers want to keep a hawk feather or two, and people insist on telling us all about their private collections of feathers. Iapos;m obliged to let them know for their own information that itapos;s against the law and that I would really rather not hear any more about that.

My advice is, if you do happen to find an interesting feather along your path in life, donapos;t parade it, donapos;t advertise it, and do not sell it. Keep it to yourself for the gift from the Great Spirit that it is. You can whistle Yankee Doodle; just donapos;t stick it in your cap for all the world to see.


*Imping means replacing a lost feather on a live bird with an exact�match, usually from the carcass of a similar type bird.
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