wwf@oz.plymouth.edu (Dr. Wavell Fogleman) (01/10/91)
Please be advised that it is ILLEGAL to possess any nongame bird, dead or alive, or its parts or nests or eggs without proper federal [and in most cases state] permit. This is to insure compliance with the international [North American] Migratory Bird Act designed to keep people from using birds as decorations, etc. Since it is not possible to distinguish from a bird body [or skeleton] taken from a bird found dead and one taken from a bird killed for the purpose, the law makes ANY possesion illegal. Aside from the legal aspects, most biologists would probably employ leather beatles to clean the corpse remains from the bones. Then you have problem of reassembling them!
lark@tivoli.UUCP (Lar Kaufman) (01/12/91)
Since I've seen two postings about the legality of keeping parts of these critters, I see the need to add a caveat. The original author _did_ say he didn't know the species of the dead bird... It is not illegal to capture, keep, or possess living, dead, or parts of introduced species. If the dead bird is, for example, a starling, you can do whatever you want with it. There are some exceptions to the exception (of course). Under international regulations intended to protect endangered species, it may be illegal to _trade_ in a protected endangered species. The actual restriction would be dependent on the laws of the "home" country or countries from which the bird originated. Thus, if your dead bird were a rare parrot, whether you could keep it (parts of it) or not would depend on whether it was introduced into this country legally, I suppose... As you can imagine, enforcement of the Lacey Act (which I believe is the source for the previous postings) is sometimes difficult. Since the purpose of the act is to protect native species, an individual is unlikely to encounter difficulties unless actual trade in a protected species takes place. If you shoot a duck and have it stuffed, it is extremely unlikely that you will be challenged to produce documentation that you shot it legally and can prove it was taken legally. On the other hand, if the authorities discover that you are making a living selling stuffed ducks, you may be in deep waters. I use stuffed ducks only as a convenient example. Actually, the most threatened species from illegal collecting in the USA are probably Bald and Golden Eagles, and bears of all species. (I may be wrong on this.) Eagle feathers are used (often legally) in religious ceremonies of American Indians, and thus they are also in demand by new-age imitators. Bears are killed for their gall bladders which are in tremendous demand in the far east (for potency problems, or as aphrodisiacs, or something). -lar -- Lar Kaufman Save American jobs: (voice) 512-329-2455 (fax) 512-329-2755 * Make quality products lark@tivoli.com * Provide quality services
dkletter@adobe.COM (SUGAR in their vitamins?) (01/13/91)
In article <1991Jan10.224737.15775@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu> hansen@harris.cis.ksu.edu (Steve Hansen) writes: >I don't remember the name of the legislation (I believe it was the Migratory >Bird Act, or something similar), but it is illegal to possess any part of all >non gamebirds (this includes feathers, etc.). Thus keeping a skeleton >without a permit is technically illegal. this doesn't make much sense to me since there is a nifty little shop in the Haight that sells all kinds of skeletons. the only skeleton that i'm aware of being illegal to own is the skull of a homo sapien. and i think the reason for that is because people used to go into graveyards and dig up remains to resell for big bucks. perhaps this legislation is in your state only? i'd be curious to find out more information on this if someone can provide. -- Yes. Beautiful, wonderful nature. Hear it sing to us: *snap* Yes. natURE.
cb2w+@andrew.cmu.edu (Christopher Waldemar Bochna) (01/17/91)
In article <9970@adobe.UUCP> dkletter@adobe.COM (SUGAR in their vitamins?) writes: >this doesn't make much sense to me since there is a nifty little shop >in the Haight that sells all kinds of skeletons. the only skeleton that >i'm aware of being illegal to own is the skull of a homo sapien. and i >think the reason for that is because people used to go into graveyards >and dig up remains to resell for big bucks. perhaps this legislation is >in your state only? i'd be curious to find out more information on this >if someone can provide. Well, after a quick look see in the Code of Federal Regulations, I dug this up. 50 CFR 21.11 : "No person shall take, possess, import, export, transport, sell, purchase, barter, or offer for sale, purchase or barter, any migratory bird, or the parts, nests, or eggs of such bird except as may be permitted under the terms of a valid permit isued pursuant to the provisions of this part and part 13, or as permitted by regulations in this part or part 20 (the hunting regulations). If you wish to have the formal definitions of some of the terms, here they are: 50 CFR 10.12 : ..."'Migratory Bird' means any bird, whatever its origin and whether or not raised in captivity, which belongs to a species in [part] 10.13, or which is a mutation or a hybrid of any such species, including any part, nest, or egg of any such bird, or any product, whether or not manufactured, which consists, or is composed in whole or part, of any such bird or any part, nest, or egg thereof. "'Permit' means any document designated as a 'permit', 'license', 'certificate', or any other document by the [U.S. Fish and Wildlife] Service to authorize, limit, or describe activity and signed by an authorized official of the Service. "'Person' means any individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, club, or private body, any one or all, as the context requires. "'Possession' means the detention and control, or the manual or ideal custody of anything which may be the subject of property, for one's use and enjoyment, wither as owner or as a proprietor of a qualified right in it, and either held personally or by another who exercises it in one's place and name. Possession includes the act or state of possessing and that condition of facts under which one can exercise his power over a corporeal thing at his pleasure to the exclusion of all other persons. Possessin includes constructive possession which means not actual but assumed to exist, where one claims to hold by virtue of some title without having actual custody. "'Take' means to pursue, hurt, shoot, would, trap, capture, collect, or attempt to pursue, hurt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect..." The list of migratory birds listed in 50 CFR 10.13 is quite long and covers almost all birds seen in the wild in the U.S. The 3 birds I can think of that are not covered are rock doves, european starlings, and house sparrows. If you wish to have the penalties for violating these regulations, I'll dig up the necessary text.