It's fascinating to see those turtles catch 'em. :-)
Posted on 05/25/2007 9:09:50 AM PDT by DogByte6RER
Pigeon Fans Charged in Deaths of Raptors
ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 25, 2007
LOS ANGELES – Pigeon fanciers in California and two other states were accused of shooting, clubbing and gassing federally protected hawks and falcons, authorities said yesterday.
A 14-month undercover investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service led to charges being filed against a Texas man on Wednesday, three Oregon men on Monday and seven Southern California men earlier this month.
The men were accused of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act by taking or attempting to take a protected bird. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of six months in federal prison.
Six of the Californians were arrested on Wednesday, and the seventh surrendered yesterday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Johns said. The men were associated with clubs for enthusiasts of Birmingham roller pigeons. Because of a genetic defect, the birds do backward flips while in flight, making them attractive prey for hawks and falcons. “This is a group of hobbyists who selectively inbred a genetic defect that attracts predators,” then seemed to “feel entitled . . . to engage in the wholesale slaughter of these predators,” Johns said.
Among those arrested was Juan Navarro, 44, of Los Angeles, president of the National Birmingham Roller Club. He was released on bond, authorities said.
Investigators estimated that roller pigeon groups in Southern California have killed up to 2,000 hawks and falcons annually.
No, this story is NOT about some sports hooligans who are dedicated to a sports club named "The Pigeons" and who attacked a rival club named "The Raptors."
This news story title is a bit misleading and weird.
Anyways...I HATE pigeons! They are nothing more than flying rat vermin as far as I am concerned.
If anything, we need MORE birds of prey in our downtown areas to clear out these filthy feathered cockroaches.
I work in downtown San Diego and we need more hawks and falcons here. The pigeons here are just a pain in the @ss.
It must be the great San Diego weather that keeps them coming back here (oh, and the armies of homeless people who litter their food and trash around for the pigeons to eat.)
These pigeon "fans" need to be locked up. Go FEDS!
Links to diseases carried by pigeons:
http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/wildlife/pigeons.htm
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/epi/epi-pigeon.shtml
http://www.bird-x.com/birddiseases.html
Pigeons probably taste better than raptors anyway.
Pigeons???
Winged Rats,
(at least the feral kind).
they crap all over everything and defile all our edifices spreading disease and messes in general.
I would really like to put a bounty on the sob sisters who get stale bakery goods and bring them to the middle of strip malls early in the day and feed these winged rats. That should be a felony
>> Because of a genetic defect, the birds do backward flips while in flight, making them attractive prey for hawks and falcons. “This is a group of hobbyists who selectively inbred a genetic defect that attracts predators,” then seemed to “feel entitled . . . to engage in the wholesale slaughter of these predators,”
I’m still laughing. You just can’t make this stuff up!
I indirectly breed merlins. Comes from having bird feeders.
Three days ago I saw one leaving my yard with what was surely a mourning dove. Guess these people would kill me for that.
Retarded pigeons?
Yep.
Pigeons are the rats of the bird world.
Nasty pests. Geese can be messy in certain places like Golf Courses too.
So, you're saying we need bigger birds of prey to solve the homeless problem?
I'm referring to the two whales stuck in the Sacramento River in California. Natural selection at work. Nature is uncompromising, cruel and, in the final analysis, wise beyond all human comparison.
But...
Here we have dozens of self-important doofuses, who know that the world revolves around themselves, their interests and their public-jobs-as-welfare activities.
They are determined to "save" those whales. I have no problem with that.
What I do have a problem with is the millions that they have spent so far (of our taxpayer money) to feel good and important about what they do.
Once upon a time, private money did these thing. No problem.
When public money is involved, and these "public servants" make rules about where we may go or not go, and what we may do or not do, and spend weeks getting paid for it, it eventually makes my blood boil.
These whales are toast; in not before, certainly with the trauma they are being subjected to in the name of "compassion", by the parasites of human society.
Am I overreacting?
They would go ape if they saw how many pigeons the turtles eat here each day.
You want to get rid of them, buy some popcorn, and some alka seltzer. Break the tablets once, mix with the popcorn, feed it to them.
They literally ‘pop’.
It's fascinating to see those turtles catch 'em. :-)
I don’t think you’re over-reacting but are you sure about that taxpayer-funded assertion? It’s just that I didn’t know that and, like you, I am angered.
But beyond that, again like you, I’d been listening to the story of these two stuck whales and after a time I began to get some common sense. I mean, yeah, sure at first it seemed a kind thing, a nice human thing, to do for the wildlife. We all will take time to help a creature that needs a human hand. But come on now...these two whales evidently don’t want to be saved and perhaps it’s best if they aren’t.
First the mother of the calf was dumb enough to get caught in an area where whales ought not to be. She, of course, brings her calf with her. So okay, well all make mistakes, extenuating circumstances...yada, yada.
Next, the kind humans try to drive this duo out to sea but tempting them to follow the recorded calls of their co-whale species.
Now the mother whale STILL does not do what whales normally do, no she doesn’t and now we’ve got two whale stupidity points. I’m betting this mama whale was edumicated in Delaware public schools.
Next, the whales do not leave when sounds that cause them grief are broadcast under the watery depths.
So we’ve got a-Mama whale the failed navigator, b-Mama whale the hearing=deprived or too stupid to recognize her species’ call and c-too dumb to run from bad noises.
Finally we are told that the whales were hurt from propellers somehow and somewhere but the implication was, correct me, but the implication was that the Mama whale somehow ran under the RESCUERS’ propellers.
Ah....I think...it’s time for survival of the fittest to jump in here. So hey, us wizenheimers at FreeRepublic got a clue but whose job is it to tell these obsessed rescuers to give it up?
It really is kind of fun. The turtle stays submerged right next to shore and when the pigeons come to drink, the turtle spots one that is not paying attention...and it is lunch time.
When they're too damn dumb to escape a turtle, that pretty much tells us where they belong on the food chain.
My favorite description of pigeons is "flying bags of germs"!
When I saw the headline, I thought maybe the folks ran an orental restaurant, and didn’t like the competition for the poultry supply.
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