Current Regulations

Current Regulation – Minutes from the 2014 Mountain Hawk-Eagle Conservation Forum

Issue 1. Possession, display and trading of Mountain Hawk-Eagle feathers

Without the legal consent of the government, any person who is known to display, buy and/or sell the feathers is violating the law. Keeping a Mountain Hawk-Eagle feather on the shelf of a craft shop is seen as an act of “display and/or selling” the feather and is against the law. The person involved maybe imprisoned for more than six months and not more than 60 months, and fined more than 300,000 (NTD) and not more than 1,500,000 (NTD). However, people who already legally possess Mountain Hawk-Eagle feathers are not required to report to the government since the feathers are not a wildlife commodity under restriction. The feathers worn in the tribal ceremonies, due to the ceremony’s exclusiveness, are not considered being displayed and so the ceremonies are exempt from such regulation.

Issue 2. Legal acquisition of Mountain Hawk-Eagle feathers

According to Wildlife Conservation Act, Article 21-1, indigenous tribes may apply for permission to legally capture Mountain Hawk-Eagles for their feathers. Currently, there has not been any known record of indigenous tribes petitioning for legal acquisition of Mountain Hawk-Eagle feathers. However, in the approved list of wildlife utilized by indigenous people, Mountain Hawk-Eagle feathers are not included in the list, and so in order for the utilization of the feathers to be fully legitimate, it is a primary task to amend related acts.

Issue 3. The current state and trend of the feather-wearing culture

Very few tribes have retained their traditions but most other tribes have found non-chief members wearing the Mountain Hawk-Eagle feathers, rendering the feathers losing its symbolic meaning. The immediate impact on the population of Mountain Hawk-Eagle is the increase in feather demand and thus poaching. Therefore the conservation of Mountain Hawk-Eagle is in close relationship with the preservation of tribal tradition.

Most tribal elders believe that the tradition and culture must be recovered and preserved, and that education is crucial to the work in helping the new generation understand the meaning of the feathers. Some tribal members have suggested using artificial feathers as a substitute to support the feather-wearing culture but others have expressed doubts and concern on the authenticity of the spirit.

Issue 4. Restoration of tribal tradition and reinforcement of legal wildlife use

All indigenous tribes have a strict traditional rule on how the Mountain Hawk-Eagle feathers should be worn and who can wear them. Each tribe typically has three chiefs; the alpha chief can wear three feathers, the beta can wear two and the gamma can wear one. The rest of the tribal members are not allowed to wear feathers. However, with the tradition being lost and tribal autonomy broken, the feathers can be seen worn by non-chief tribal members nowadays, leading to a large increase in the demand of Mountain Hawk-Eagle feathers.

It is therefore crucial that the government assist the tribes to re-establish their autonomic system so that the abuse of the feathers can be terminated. Governmental representatives have also expressed support for the preserving of this traditional rule during the forum. Others have suggested active confiscating operation and provide the confiscated feathers to those who are eligible to wear them. Once the government establishes a protocol for the use of Mountain Hawk-Eagle feathers, the Repository may be used as an online database registering all feathers collected from the nation-wide rescue centers and rehabilitation centers. The registered feathers can then be opened for application by tribal chiefs.

Issue 5. Discussion

Traditionally, the chiefs of an indigenous tribe are offered the Mountain Hawk-Eagle feathers as a token of respect from the tribal hunters. Unfortunately, with the introduction of majority votes into the tribes, the chiefs are deprived of their absolute status and power; thus, the only way for the chiefs to obtain the feathers is through craft shops, which may import the feathers from the black market. At least 30-40 Mountain Hawk-Eagles are killed annually to meet the demand from the black market, imposing a huge pressure on the survival of native population.

We urge the government to take a cooperative stance with the tribes, NGOs and conservation agencies and take immediate actions to investigate the poaching and illegal hunting of Mountain Hawk-Eagle. By establishing a legal feather repository for petition, the indigenous tribes may then legally acquire these feathers which are essential to their tradition without the sacrifice of Mountain Hawk-Eagle population. Mountain Hawk-Eagle is the primary predator of Formosan macaque, the population of which has increased dramatically over the years and has become a big nuisance to suburban agriculture. It is therefore in the common interest of farmers to support the conservation of Mountain Hawk-Eagles.