The Department of Justice recently announced charges against 15 people who have been trafficking in eagle body parts. “U.S. Attorney Randy Seiler …described one operation as basically a "chop-shop for eagles" in which eagle feathers were stuffed into garb
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The Department of Justice recently announced charges against 15 people who have been trafficking in eagle body parts. “U.S. Attorney Randy Seiler …described one operation as basically a "chop-shop for eagles" in which eagle feathers were stuffed into garbage bags. He said it was clear that it was a moneymaking operation and that the feathers and eagle parts such as talons and beaks were treated as merchandise. ‘There was no cultural sensitivity. There was no spirituality,’ Seiler said. ‘There was no tradition in the manner in which these defendants handled these birds.’" (April 24, 2017, 15 Indicted in Eagle Trafficking Case, James Nord, AP).
Mind you, nobody is charged with actually killing an eagle. This is only about merchandizing eagle parts in violation of The Eagle Protection Act. Under this law, there are criminal penalties for anyone to “take, possess, sell, purchase, barter, offer to sell, purchase or barter, transport, export or import, at any time or any manner, any bald eagle ... [or any golden eagle], alive or dead, or any part, nest, or egg thereof.”
Notice the thoroughly religious tone of Mr. Seiler’s remarks. Rather than presenting their crimes in the terms of the law, “sell, purchase, barter…,” he said, “There was no cultural sensitivity. There was no spirituality. There was no tradition in the manner in which these defendants handled these birds.”
All of this is in stark contrast to another headline from last week’s news. “Lamborghini” Mary Gatter, of Planned Parenthood in Pasadena, is back in the news. An April 26th video, released from the Center for Medical Progress, catches her working the angles to increase profit for intact organs from aborted babies.
Lawyers can argue about whether she violated the law. I am interested in the way these two events were covered.
The Associated Press attended the news conference about eagle feathers, and published a national story about it. Yet I can find nothing from Reuters, AP, or any of the major media outlets that even mentions the latest haggling over baby parts.