Apache tribe wants to join bald eagle suit

PHOENIX (AP) – The San Carlos Apache tribe is asking a federal judge for permission to join a suit seeking to return Endangered Species Act protections to bald eagles in Arizona.

A federal judge ruled in October that that desert nesting bald eagles can be removed from the federal lists. The judge found the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had complied with an earlier order to review the status of the population.

The conservation group Center for Biological Diversity then filed a lawsuit seeking to keep the state's eagle protected.

Arizona has about 200 desert bald eagles. The government does not consider them separate from eagles elsewhere in the nation, which were declared no longer endangered in 2007.

The San Carlos Apache say in a filing this week that the eagles are fundamental to their religion.