Wyoming reviewing tribal eagle permit issues

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is evaluating whether the Northern Arapaho Tribe would need state permission to kill bald eagles outside the tribe's reservation. Game Department Director Scott Talbott says he can't say how long it will take his agency to decide the issue. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last month gave the Northern Arapaho the nation's first permit allowing the killing of bald eagles for religious purposes. The permit specified the Arapaho must kill the eagles outside the Wind River Indian Reservation. The Arapaho share the reservation with the Eastern Shoshone, who oppose killing eagles there. The Northern Arapaho Tribe filed a complaint last week calling the federal permit a sham because it limits killing to outside the reservation, where eagles generally are protected under state law.