Artist told using feathers violates federal law

For hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years, Natives of Southeast Alaska have paid artisans to create tools, clothing and ceremonial regalia adorned with feathers.

So contemporary Tlingit carver Archie Cavanaugh was startled when U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel told him that items he had advertised for sale violated federal laws. Specifically: a carved hat featuring the wings and tail of a raven, and a headdress, or "shakee.át," topped with the feathers of a flicker, a robin-size relative of the woodpecker.