Delurker Carrie Laben (hi!) brought us, via her blog, some news of wildlife paying the price for human culture in all its sacrosanctitude.
US files charges in LA in deaths of 1,000s of hawks and falcons
24 May 2007Federal authorities have charged seven Southern California men associated with “roller pigeon” clubs on charges related to the fatal beatings and shootings of federally protected raptors....
In California, a special agent infiltrated several roller pigeon clubs and learned about members’ efforts to trap and kill raptors, specifically Cooper’s hawks, red-tailed hawks and Peregrine falcons, according to court documents. Investigators estimate that leaders and members of the National Birmingham Roller Club (NBRC) and other enthusiast organizations in the Los Angeles metropolitan area are responsible for killing 1,000 to 2,000 raptors annually. One official of the NBRC claims to have killed as many as 50 raptors annually for the past several years, according to court documents. One defendant told the investigating agent that he had filled a five-gallon bucket with talons that he had cut from slain hawks.
I went to check out the NBRC website, and found a May 28 press release about the arrests:
Recently, we were dismayed to learn that eleven Roller pigeon enthusiasts were arrested in Los Angeles, California and in Portland, Oregon by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, as part of a costly 14-month “sting” operation. These individuals are charged with trapping and sometimes killing protected Cooper’s Hawks which were attacking and killing their pigeons.
The National Birmingham Roller Club’s position has always been one of not condoning or promoting the harassment, capture, or killing of birds of prey for any reason. The NBRC in no way endorses or supports any activity that would cause stress, injury, or death to any bird of prey. If it should eventually be proven that any members of the NBRC have been found to have engaged in such activity, we state emphatically that such behavior was not with the consent, knowledge, or approval of the NBRC. Until proven guilty, these individuals are presumed innocent, despite the inappropriate and grossly exaggerated comments of spokespersons for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which sought to tar thousands of roller fanciers by reason of the unfortunate allegations against less than a dozen individuals.
Predation by hawks has become a part of life not only for Roller pigeon enthusiasts, but also racing pigeon enthusiasts, game breeders, commercial hatcheries, and any other business or hobby that exposes domestic birds to elements of the wild. Contrary to what some may have been led to believe, Cooper’s Hawks are now to be found in abundance across the United States. They have become relentless in their pursuit of prey not only in rural and remote regions but even in major metropolitan cities.
First off, don’t you like the “We completely disavow the commission of any crimes for which our members may have been unfairly arrested by jackbooted F&WS thugs” line? Classic.
I’m also intrigued by the focus on Cooper’s hawks, a slick distraction from the fact that the arrested pigeon fanciers were allegedly killing peregrine falcons as well. The release claims that Cooper’s hawks can be “found in abundance across the United States,” a gross misrepresentation of the facts. Cooper’s hawks are in fact rebounding in some places from a serious decline, caused by DDT poisoning among other things. They have in some places adapted well to suburban and urban environments. In some places, they’re an occasional-to-regular backyard bird.
But there are many places in the United States, and Canada, in which their numbers are declining. Most of California and the intermountain West, for instance. Upstate New York, and most of Ohio and West Virginia. The Mississippi basin from the Ohio River to the Gulf. Canada west of Saskatoon.
The NBRC’s press release, in other words, steals a number of pages from the old Wise Use Movement playbook:
- Lie about the wildlife population figures, counting on conventional wisdom that seems to support your lies. (In this case, conventional wisdom coming from eastern suburbanites seeing hawks in their birdbaths and concluding that they are abundant across the whole continent.)
- Pose the US government, in its achingly reluctant enforcement of environmental laws mainly against flagrant and stereotypically nasty violators, as the enemy of freedom.
- And most importantly, demand that when the government creates its wildlife policy, the actual survival of species be weighed as no more important, perhaps less important, than the trivial pastime of a vanishingly small subset of human beings.
The news Carrie linked to is a few months old, but there are recent developments in the criminal proceedings. One of the men, Mitchell Redd of Portland, Oregon, entered a plea of guilty two days ago to charges that he set out to trap and kill hawks intending to “protect” his pigeons from them. They threw the book at him: 18 months of probabtion, and no hunting and fishing privileges.
Yep. “Trying to kill wild animals, eh? Well, as punishment, we’re not going to let you kill wild animals.”
I’m as happy to eat venison and brook trout as the next guy, but something just seems wrong with that.
