Â
I was a bit taken aback by a recent article in The Flyer from IAATE adamantly supporting legislation to make the already illegal killing of birds of prey a felony. I understand that the legislation would target those who engage in the “deliberate and wanton killing†of raptors and that this sort of behavior is grievous and sickening. However, I’m surprised that my bird training peers aren’t applying their skills to this issue instead of their emotions.
The idea of a large group of pigeoners brutally destroying thousands of raptors is horrifying and therefore a very “sticky†story, the sort of story that grows into urban legend. We’ve all heard the legend of razorblades and poison in Halloween candy. That too was horrifying and rapidly disseminated. It changed the way kids were allowed to experience Halloween. However, there is not a single verifiable case of death by tainted Halloween candy. Despite this, the New York Times, national syndicated columnists and many others have spread the story as fact with anecdotal stories of children who succumbed.
I am not asserting that the pigeoners involved in Operation High Roller were not guilty or that they should be excused, but the majority of facts in this case are anecdotal. Yet everyone continues to fan this blaze of emotional anecdotes. This creates an environment of reaction rather than solution.Viable solutions to any behavior problem rarely, if ever, come to fruition through an emotional lens. Yet this is exactly how everyone tackled the issue, with outrage and a cry for justice. Killing raptors is a behavior and all behaviors can be shaped or changed. No one stopped to consider that punishment after the fact is the least effective means of changing a behavior. Why not? We’re animal trainers and people are animals too.
Pigeoners lose hundreds of birds a year to hawks. Some racing pigeons may be worth tens of thousands of dollars. Even the rollers, not worth much more than a couple of bucks a piece, constitute thousands of dollars in birds, feed and labor not to mention love. The pigeoners have no great solutions for how to manage their two greatest foes, Cooper’s hawks and falcons. USFWS will neither allow them to trap the birds for relocation nor do they offer help to figure out how to live with raptors in their backyard. It is a challenging quandary. It is, in fact the sort of problem-solving that would be a worthy challenge to some talented avian trainers. In the smallest component the behavior to decrease is the raptor grabbing the pigeon. Surely there is an antecedent and a consequence to this behavior and a way to shape it.
Although I have no great issue with killing raptors becoming a felony, those of us who really care about raptors are missing out on a great opportunity. Most pigeoners don’t kill raptors for fun. Those that do, kill them out of frustration. We have the talent and the means to help find them solutions. What will have a greater effect? Giving them a better solution or looming punishment?
Well said, Rebecca- I’ll link.
Another issue us that people only care when their OWN sport/ animal is threatened. Remember when mosrt falconers wouldn’t help the coursers fight?
I am rather sensitive to this subject matter, last Feb. I lost my most prized hybrid to a farmer’s shotgun. My falcon was killed sitting across the highway from the farmer’s house on a pole, the farmer clamed the falcon was a threat to his giant Rode Island chickens in an enclosed cage behind the house. Yet the feds did not do a thing about it because he was a captive bred hybrid. It has been over six months of frustration and agony with the Indio Court system and quite frankly I think it is just a waste of time. These birds are not made overnight and the total cost of this bird added up to be close to $ 9800.00, between gas, Helium, quail, captive bred bagged ducks, travel, and over 600 hrs of training time.
There is no question that this guy shot my bird for just the plain pleasure of killing a hawk, and I’m afraid there are a lot more sick people out there with similar interests.
I think the “FELONY†judgment is the very least they can get for such ignorance.
Regards,
Vahe
Being much more familiar with the area than you, I would say without hesitation that what you are calling “Rhode Island Reds” in the enclosed cage were actually fighting cocks. Playing devil’s advocate, that makes those chickens worth a lot more than $9800 with comparable training time. Not to mention that amount of money is probably worth a lot more to him than to you. Your passion versus his livilihood. It’s unlikely he did it for the pure “pleasure” of it.
I’m not saying that he should have shot your bird, but it certainly shouldn’t be a felony. That’s not a solution. Selling drugs is a felony, but people do it anyway because it’s a lucrative living. And I for one don’t want to pay for all the people who would go to prison just for being ignorant.