The Federal Government Has a Lending Library for Eagle Parts

Did you know that?  The background story is this:

A federal permit allowing the Northern Arapaho Tribe in Wyoming to kill up to two bald eagles for religious purposes is the first of its kind ever issued to an American Indian tribe, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official said Wednesday.

The federal agency granted a permit last week allowing the Northern Arapaho to kill or capture and then release up to two bald eagles this year. The tribe filed a federal lawsuit in Cheyenne last fall over the agency's earlier failure to grant a bald eagle permit after the tribe applied for one nearly three years ago.

This paragraph was well down in the story:

Federal law prohibits non-Indians from killing or possessing any part of bald eagles. The government keeps eagle feathers and body parts in a federal repository in Colorado that tribal members may apply for to use in religious ceremonies.

Is it like Blockbuster? Do you go in, pick your parts off the shelf, show your membership card, and then go hold your ceremony?

Is this really something the Federal government should be doing?  Couldn't the tribes themselves handle this?  And how much is this costing taxpayers?

I'll bet if we could peel back the layers of government we'd find all kinds of nonsense like this.