Posted on 06/09/2007 6:23:38 PM PDT by jazusamo
Specialty breed - Members of the Northwest roller club are accused of killing birds of prey, some endangered
Showing a visitor through the Hillsboro shelters where he raises "roller" pigeons, Ivan Hanchett described how he trapped hawks so they wouldn't bother his precious flock.
He suffocated the hawks in garbage bags, he said, and put them in the trash, noting he had "never seen a hawk that could hold its breath more than three seconds."
Hanchett went on: Oregon aficionados of the roller pigeon -- a special breed flown in competitions -- commonly capture and kill hawks and falcons that attack the smaller birds. A friend in Canby captured 30 hawks in 45 days.
Hanchett's mistake was that the person touring his place was an undercover agent of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who spent months investigating the dark side of the little-known sport.
The agent described the tour in new federal court documents released Friday that allege Hanchett and other leaders of an Oregon roller pigeon club -- the Northwest Roller Jockeys -- carried out a campaign of destruction against some of the country's most prized and protected birds.
Federal officials said the number of birds of prey killed in Oregon and Washington may number near 1,000, enough to put a serious dent in species such as peregrine falcons that only recently bounced back from near extinction.
The 14-month federal investigation led to misdemeanor charges against Hanchett and two other Oregon men for violations of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Two of them -- Pete Kaufman, 34, of Portland and Mitch Reed, 29, of Mount Angel -- pleaded not guilty in federal court Friday. U.S. Magistrate John Jelderks released them pending trial.
Hanchett is scheduled to appear next week.
Kaufman had a hawk and falcon trap set in his Southeast Portland backyard, search warrants say. Agents who searched Hanchett's Hillsboro residence recovered a rifle, ammunition and the partially decomposed carcass of a hawklike bird.
"Some of these guys allegedly used weapons and guns with silencers and shot hawks right in their backyard with houses next door," said David Patte, a spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Portland. "About 95 to 99 percent of the members freely talk about their taking and killing of hawks as a regular part of their hobby."
Unnamed pigeon enthusiasts gleefully wrote in an online forum about the shooting of peregrine falcons that the Audubon Society of Portland had rescued in 2003 from the St. Johns Bridge during construction and released at a wildlife refuge north of Vancouver.
The postings aren't part of the court record, but the Audubon Society recorded them and provided them to The Oregonian. They have since been removed.
"I laughed and laughed," one person wrote. "All the pain staking measures they took to get these birds to adolescence and than (sic) to have someone take them out was simply bliss!"
He advised using the "3-S" system -- "shoot, shovel and shut up."
Tumbling birds
Roller pigeons carry a genetic trait -- highlighted through breeding -- that causes them to suddenly stop flying and tumble in a ball of feathers through the air before they right themselves and fly on. Hobbyists fly them in competitions where judges score the birds on how well synchronized they are, the quality of their "roll" and other factors.
But the tumbling pigeons also lure predatory birds looking for food, said Bob Sallinger, urban conservation director of the Audubon Society of Portland. Sallinger is the one who rappelled down the St. Johns Bridge to retrieve peregrine falcons now thought to have been killed.
"If you put a defective pigeon up in the sky, you're going to attract predators," he said. "To kill birds of prey for doing what comes naturally is just unconscionable."
He said the number of birds killed -- authorities also said 1,000 to 2,000 hawks and falcons may have been killed in Southern California each year -- make it one of the most serious cases of wildlife crime in years. Seven Californians and a Texan have also been charged in the case.
"You can't come up with anything within the last decades that rivals this in scale and scope," he said. "They're on their Web site bragging and mocking the effort taxpayers put into saving these birds."
None of the Oregonians charged in the case could be reached for comment on Friday. Each held positions in a national group called the National Birmingham Roller Club, according to court documents.
Hawks vs. pigeons
The group posted a statement on its Web site -- www.nbrconline.com -- saying that it doesn't condone or support the killing of birds of prey. But the group said that hawks "have become relentless in their pursuit of prey" and that the loss of roller pigeons often valued at $100 or more is "extremely disheartening to those who breed and love their pet pigeons."
Club members have complained to the Fish and Wildlife Service about the attacks on their pigeons and asked for help in dealing with hawks, the statement said, but added, "So far, our pleas have gone unanswered."
In court documents, Fish and Wildlife Service agent Dirk Hoy described his undercover experiences with Kaufman, Reed and Hanchett when he posed as someone interested in raising pigeons.
"Hanchett told me that when it came to hawks I should take a 'no nonsense approach.' He also said to be extra careful when it came to disposing of peregrine falcons because the 'government' may 'come after you,' " Hoy said in an affidavit.
Hanchett explained that some peregrines were propagated under government programs to increase their population numbers, and as such many had transmitters attached to them, Hoy said.
"Hanchett also discussed another method of killing hawks which consisted of attaching fishing line with hooks to the body of a live feeder mouse," he said. "When released the mouse would attract a hawk that would be entangled by the hooks. Hanchett claimed to have killed a kestrel using this method."
Later Hoy met Reed at a weekend "fly" to watch pigeons at Hanchett's home.
"I asked Reed if he had any problems with hawks," Hoy said. "Reed claimed that he didn't, explaining that Cooper's hawks were easy to deal with because they had a tendency to perch in the trees near his house. This enabled him to easily shoot them."
Ping!
Just a few days ago, I saw a bald eagle take out a crow. I would hate to see anyone kill off our raptors for any reason.
Exactly...It’s sounds like this is no small deal with the killing of up to a thousand in OR and WA alone.
If I lived where this crap was going on I would be out there shooting the pigeons. But I wouldn’t use the 3S method they are talking about here. I have 5 cats and they can take care of the disposal aspect.
Send some raptors my way, please. I have some filthy pigeons infesting my property and I’m sick of killing the hens. The roosters fly away before I can draw a bead on ‘em, then come back grieving over the dead hens. Pitiful. Time to study falconry.
Hawks kill rats and other vermin. I welcome them.
I just can’t picture people killing raptors because of their rat pigeons. If they did this I hope they get nailed good but it looks like it’s only a misdemeanor.
Hawks and falcons are apex predators of great beauty. I'd rather see every filthy disgusting disease-spreading pigeon in the country killed before one peregrine falcon.
-ccm
I vote for the Pigeons.
A thousand raptors or more verses retarded pigeons?
They gotta be kidding me.
Someday, maybe in its tenth season, “Dogfights” will show the Hawk vs Pidegon battles ;)
We need them here in New York. Peregrines are making a comeback in the city but there still aren’t enough. We have too many pigeons still.
Hawks and raptors are beautiful and great birds.
I’ll take them over stupid pidgeons everyday. Pidgens=flying rats.
That’d be interesting, the raptor would win every time, just like the F-22. :-)
Posting reflects joy in falcons' deaths
Saturday, June 09, 2007
The Oregonian
A posting on a roller pigeon Web site, recorded by the Audubon Society of Portland:
A few years ago the city of Portland decided it was time to paint the St. Johns Bridge in the process of prepping the bridge they had discovered a pair of Falcons that took up residency on the bridge.
In futher investigating they found two chicks in a nest on one of the highest cross beams on the bridge at the nesting site. They had a plan as to what to do with them to get them to maturity. Over the river in Ridgefield Washington the tax payers supported a bill to build a hack site on the wildlife refuge area where many song birds, ducks, whooping cranes etc would feed.
This would be the ideal location to get the young falcons situated and learn to hunt. Well low and behold just across the street from the wildlife refuge lives a roller flyer and when the young became airbourne they found alot of led in the air space across the street where the rollers were flying LOL!!
I laughed and laughed when I heard this story because of all the pain staking measures they took to get these birds to adolescence and than to have somone take them out simply was bliss!!
I think the odds are against us guys even if we all could shoot but let me leave you with this. When and if you do use the 3- S system shoot, shovel and shutup!
In a response to the posting, someone wrote:
Brought a smile to my face. I've had a couple of reasons to smile personally. Need the opportunity to do some more of it if you know what I mean.
Charged with a misdemeaner??? That’s it? Jeez, if you get caught with a suspect animal down here, they’ll take your truck, your gun, your firstborn, fine you 50 G’s AND put you in jail.
The sad thing is that the Raptors are only doing what they are born to do, the “roller pigeons” are genetically defective, such behavour invites predation, and these Tom fools are killing them to “save” their malfunctioning pigeons.
That, and I the only one that finds it funny that these dullards are:
1. Posting on an internet forum about killing protected wildlife
2. then that poster is admonishing the readers to “shoot shovel and shut up”?
3. Then people are replying what a wonderful idea that they kill protected species..
I think those pigeon owners are right at home with their mentally defective birds for a reason...err “Birds of a feather flock together” they both attract predation for very similar actions...LOL
I’ve hunted in OR for years and something about that doesn’t sound right to me about that but maybe it is.
You’ve got that right, they’re definitely not mental giants. It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what got the Feds after them in the beginning.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.