A hiker in a Colorado park inadvertently removed a bald eagle carcass left in a sacred tree after being used in an American Indian religious ritual.

Darrell Pino, at a news conference Monday, said obtaining the eagle carcass from the National Eagle Repository near Denver had taken a lot of paperwork and he is upset the carcass was disturbed, The Denver Post reported.

"You've got to have some kind of prayer life," Pino said. "For us as a people it's always been: 'We have no rights. We have no religion.' "

The hiker reportedly turned the carcass over to Colorado environmental authorities after discovering it June 4 in Legion Park near Boulder. Investigators believed the bird had been the victim of poachers.

"It caused a lot of people a lot of upset," said Don Ragona, a lawyer for the Native American Rights Fund. "Why wasn't anyone from the Native American community asked?"

Pino, a member of the Navajo Nation, and a Lakota elder, performed rituals over several months honoring the eagle. He said many Indian groups consider the bald eagle a link with their ancestors.