Five people face 43 federal and provincial positions combined, including hunting of dams of dam and illegal wildlife possession with the purpose of traffic, according to the fishing and wildlife control services of Alberta (FWE).
Among the defendant is an American fugitive, who FWE said he had learned in 2024 lived in the first nation of Stoney Nakoda west of Calgary after fleeing from the United States.
FWES said he had received reports from the American Killing Eagles at Stoney Nakoda and Eden Valley First Nations Land last year.
In March, an investigation began after the reports of the Americans arrived and another accused furtive hunter shooting Eagles and Hawks from a truck near Cochrane, Alta.
The five defendants face 34 positions under the Wildlife Law of Alberta and nine under the Canada Criminal Code. The charges include wild hunting life for which there is no open season, illegal possession and wildlife trafficking and neglected transport and storage of firearms.
According to the United States Prosecutor’s Office for the Montana district, the American was one of the two confrontation charges for the traffic of bald and golden eagles killed in the Indian Flathead Reserve.
Of the other four positions they face in Canada, two live in Mînî Thnî and the other two in Calgary.
“Pastive hunting is a crime that steals our Wildlife Province that is fundamental for the lives and living of many shelters,” said Minister of Public Security Services and Emergency Services, Mike Ellis, in a statement.
Feather Eagle’s headdress, Raptor Talon Dance Stick between articles sold
FWES said that the search orders executed in the trucks and houses of the American and another suspect led them to find “multiple feet of Águila freshly removed with claws, feathers, blood and other parts of the raptors, as well as non -safe firearms.”
In a separate covert operation launched by FWES, three suspects “sold several articles to undercover officers, including a headdress of bald eagle feathers, black bear claws and a raptor talon dance lever,” the agency said.
The eagles are ‘source of spirituality’
“There is everything that people are not really seeing why indigenous people reap and, say, wish to acquire pieces of eagle,” said Iskotoah’ka William Wadsworth, a Blackfoot researcher at the Kaina Nation. “The eagle is a very powerful source of spirituality and spiritual guidance for indigenous peoples throughout the continent.”
Eagle feathers and body parts are needed for some ceremonies, and the laws that prohibit the harvest of raptors complicate that, said Wadsworth.
Alberta is home to numerous birds of dam, including eagles, hawks, hawks and owls, all of which are protected from hunting and other forms of harassment under the Alberta Wildlife Law.
Indigenous peoples can apply to receive pieces of raptors and feathers for spiritual, cultural or ceremonial purposes through the provincial government. These cannot be sold or negotiated.
Pasting raptor furtive hunting is a “recurring problem”
Alberta Birds Birds of Prey Foundation, Colin Weir, said the most likely raptors will be attacked by poachers in the south of Alberta, include bald and golden eagles, along with the Swainson and Red tail hawks, which are relatively common in the area.
Weir, who has worked with thousands of birds from all over Alberta since 1984 through his work at the Coaldale Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, said that poaching of prey birds is “a periodic problem” in North America.
“It seems to be a recurring problem that simply will not disappear, just because there is such a high demand for feathers and feet,” he said.
He said that both species of Alberta native eagle are appreciated by poachers, but the Eagles Calvas “tend to be quite tolerant of people, so it is quite easy for people to approach them quite close to them, which makes them very vulnerable that poachers are taken.” Golden Eagles, meanwhile, are more rare and elusive, he said.
The province lists Las Águilas Calvas and golden eagles as sensitive species with low population density throughout Alberta, with protection considered necessary for the recovery of both birds. Provincial data suggests that there are between 100 and 250 couples of breeding eagle in the province.
