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Woman Charged With Killing Hunter's Falcon to Save Duck

mike rossi

By mike rossi,
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Curmudgeon Newbie

Curmudgeon

Posted
Posted

I just read a bunch of those linked articles. Several things are not clear to me. Did she know it was a falconer's bird? It doesn't seem so. She may have attempted to do exactly the same to a wild bird. 

 

Is it a protected species? Unless it is a pure gyrfalcon, it could be a hybrid - possibly a gyrfalcon cross. It could be a cross with a Eurasian falcon but is so dark a dark morph gyr is most likely. A pure gyr would be a protected species - if wild. I can see a lawyer having a field day with fish and wildlife law over a saker-gyr cross. 

 

Starting prices for a gyrfalcon is about $3000. I hope he takes her to civil court.

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G-Man Veteran

G-Man

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Most if not.all.raptors are protected, she should.be fined as if it was a wild bird, crazy people way to disney-a-fied. Thinking they are people and need to be saved, I wonder if she would do the same shooting a wolf off a kill..

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Elmo Rookie

Elmo

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I'm going to give the woman the benefit of the doubt for now as simply being naïve so thus charged for negligence rather than someone who is a malicious anti-hunter.  I think there is a possibility that when she saw a hawk attacking a duck, she tried to break up and shoo the hawk away.  In doing so, she struck the hawk harder than she thought.  It is not all that likely that a hawk struck (I'm assuming with a stick of some sort) with enough malicious rage would have gotten back up and flew back to it's owner.  By no means am I relieving the woman of wrong doings.  But I also don't think she was completely malicious.

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Culvercreek hunt club Enthusiast

Culvercreek hunt club

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.  It is not all that likely that a hawk struck (I'm assuming with a stick of some sort) with enough malicious rage would have gotten back up and flew back to it's owner.  By no means am I relieving the woman of wrong doings.  But I also don't think she was completely malicious.

Struck with a beaded scarf

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jrm Newbie

jrm

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Posted (edited)

Craig Walker, a regional conservation officer for Idaho Fish and Game, said he later received an anonymous call from a woman saying she tried to save a duck from a falcon. The phone system identified the caller as MacDonald.

So, those sneaky Fish and Game people have invented some magical device that can figure out who made the call. Now that this high-tech government secret is out of the bag, I wonder if the "caller id" magic will ever trickle down to us regular people.

What crazy things will those government think-tanks come up with next?

Seriously - this is the kind of person you are dealing with. Anyone who calls themselves in and thinks they will not get caught because they say "this is anonymous" is obviously a confirmed half-wit. Maybe she also wore a ski mask when she made the call so they couldn't identify her face? Or wore a shirt when she committed the crime with "this is someone else" printed on the front.

Edited by jrm
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Doc Experienced

Doc

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Perhaps she mistook the bird for an assault falcon because of the evil looking face and the deadly talons. Seems she might have learned a few things from our government such as if it looks evil, it should be gotten rid of.

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Qthehunter Newbie

Qthehunter

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Perhaps she mistook the bird for an assault falcon because of the evil looking face and the deadly talons. Seems she might have learned a few things from our government such as if it looks evil, it should be gotten rid of.

 

LOL Doc.  Post of the year.. :rofl:

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Curmudgeon Newbie

Curmudgeon

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Curm, But would it stand that she either knew it was someone's bird or it must  have been a wild Raptor? I don't think the "I knew it wasn't native because I am so good at identification and I knew it didn't belong to anyone" defense should hold any water.

 

How many people would look at a raptor on prey and think it wasn't wild? Unless she noticed jesses or was very skilled at ID, it is unlikely she did.

 

If it was wild and she knew it she was wrong. If it wasn't wild and she knew it she was wrong. I'm just wondering what law they would use against her. They couldn't convict her of harming a non-native bird under F&W law.

 

She probably thought she was doing a good deed.

 

 

I'm going to give the woman the benefit of the doubt for now as simply being naïve so thus charged for negligence rather than someone who is a malicious anti-hunter.  I think there is a possibility that when she saw a hawk attacking a duck, she tried to break up and shoo the hawk away.  In doing so, she struck the hawk harder than she thought.  It is not all that likely that a hawk struck (I'm assuming with a stick of some sort) with enough malicious rage would have gotten back up and flew back to it's owner.  By no means am I relieving the woman of wrong doings.  But I also don't think she was completely malicious.

 

She may not have been completely malicious but she hit it with those beads hard enough to fracture its skull, break a leg and kill it. Birds have very light bones that break easily. Juvenile mortality is very high, and among peregrine falcons the most common cause of mortality by young comes from breaking a leg when impacting prey improperly. One mistake is all they get.

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Jennifer Newbie

Jennifer

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Posted

I have been watching this situation unfurl over the last week as a friend of mine knows this falconer. I would have given the woman more benefit of the doubt if I didn't catch this quote from earlier stories on this.

 

The woman then asked Dinger if Hornet was his falcon and he replied it was.

"She just goes 'I just beat the sh*t out of your falcon,'" Dinger said. "It became clear that my bird was hurt. I grabbed the duck and walked away from the lady because once she told me that, my only thought was getting my bird back."

 

 

If this is true (and I wasn't there so I don't know for sure), then she knew she was causing serious harm to the falcon when she was beating it (no matter if she thought it was wild or not). Source: http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_fb15722d-9e28-5fc6-a897-bf03d93b4782.html

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shawnhu Newbie

shawnhu

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I have been watching this situation unfurl over the last week as a friend of mine knows this falconer. I would have given the woman more benefit of the doubt if I didn't catch this quote from earlier stories on this.

If this is true (and I wasn't there so I don't know for sure), then she knew she was causing serious harm to the falcon when she was beating it (no matter if she thought it was wild or not). Source: http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_fb15722d-9e28-5fc6-a897-bf03d93b4782.html

I wouldn't be surprised if this statement was true. I feel very sorry for the owner of that beautiful bird.

X-Calibur Lighting Systems

http://facebook.com/XCaliburLightingSystems

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EspressoBuzz Newbie

EspressoBuzz

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People like that have no idea of the work and regulations one must commit themselves to in order to acquire, train and maintain a bird of prey. The money investment alone is significant and it takes an immense amount of time. I very seriously looked into it exactly 20 years ago and decided it was easier to have kids! When I am gifted the opportunity to witness a bird of prey make it's living my first reaction is wonderment not wow I should go there and bludgeon that bird!

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Elmo Rookie

Elmo

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Posted

I have been watching this situation unfurl over the last week as a friend of mine knows this falconer. I would have given the woman more benefit of the doubt if I didn't catch this quote from earlier stories on this.

 

 

If this is true (and I wasn't there so I don't know for sure), then she knew she was causing serious harm to the falcon when she was beating it (no matter if she thought it was wild or not). Source: http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_fb15722d-9e28-5fc6-a897-bf03d93b4782.html

 

With this added information, I take everything back.  B%$ch is crazy!

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thunnus Newbie

thunnus

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My first field research in ornithology I was 11 years old working for Cornell and then American Museum of Natural History in great go Island

I mention my age because it was 1987 peregrine falcons were endangered: you should've heard the disgust the scientists had as they discussed the New York pigeon lovers climbing the Verrazano bridge to crush the first falcon nest in the city in years

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Curmudgeon Newbie

Curmudgeon

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My first field research in ornithology I was 11 years old working for Cornell and then American Museum of Natural History in great go Island

I mention my age because it was 1987 peregrine falcons were endangered: you should've heard the disgust the scientists had as they discussed the New York pigeon lovers climbing the Verrazano bridge to crush the first falcon nest in the city in years

 

There seems to be some cognitive dissonance in that line of thinking.

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