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Pigeon Racer Fined $5,500 For Killing Hawks
Hartford Courant ^ | October 19, 2016 | Edmund H. Mahony

Posted on 10/21/2016 7:08:55 AM PDT by Daffynition

A pigeon racing enthusiast avoided jail Wednesday, but was fined $5,500 and ordered to volunteer in an animal shelter for killing federally protected hawks that were attacking pet birds he spent years raising in Stamford.

The case against pigeon racer Thomas Kapusta was the first major prosecution in Connecticut under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Neither side got everything it wanted from the sentence that was imposed after debate about whether the lives of some creatures have more value than those of others.

(Excerpt) Read more at courant.com ...


TOPICS: Outdoors; Pets/Animals; Weird Stuff
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Precious or pestilent?
1 posted on 10/21/2016 7:08:55 AM PDT by Daffynition
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To: Daffynition

How the heck does one get CAUGHT doing that?


2 posted on 10/21/2016 7:19:41 AM PDT by Mr. Douglas (Today is your life. What are you going to do with it?)
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To: Daffynition

Oh my.

We recently bought some land where bald eagles nest in the winter. I don’t think we’ll be bringing the cats along when we camp on the weekends.

Some pets are simply incompatible with certain environments.


3 posted on 10/21/2016 7:20:42 AM PDT by To Hell With Poverty (When the going gets tough, Republicans have to GO PEE.)
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To: Daffynition

I gotta say I’m a bit conflicted over this one. On one hand pigeons are dirty disgusting loathsome flying rats and if the guy were my neighbor I’d really hate it, but on the other they are actual livestock and the hawks (predators) were killing the guy’s livestock. This bit about letting predators kill your livestock while you are forbidden by law to protect your property is just plain wrong.


4 posted on 10/21/2016 7:22:33 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: Daffynition

Clearly a hate crime...

Because we know what would happen to the pigeons if they went after the hawk!

/s


5 posted on 10/21/2016 7:25:08 AM PDT by homegroan (Proud to be an Adorable Deplorable Basket Case...)
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To: Mr. Douglas
How the heck does one get CAUGHT doing that?

Spied on by the neighbors and doubtless turn in by them. Would you want to live next to a guy that harbored 100+ dirty noisy pigeons on his property, but would doubtless fly over your property and leave many souvenirs.

6 posted on 10/21/2016 7:25:08 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: Daffynition

I met a guy who knew an heir to the Chrysler fortune and she raised pigeons to help train her hunting dogs and on her estate she had a literal pit full of dead Redtail Hawks that used to prey on her pigeons. Her sentencing by the judge was hilarious, community service at a homeless shelter kitchen where the heir supervised her help staff do the kitchen work, till the judge found out.


7 posted on 10/21/2016 7:26:09 AM PDT by junta ("Peace is a racket", testimony from crime boss Barrack Hussein Obama.)
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To: Daffynition

Dude failed to properly execute the SSS.


8 posted on 10/21/2016 7:26:54 AM PDT by Augie
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To: from occupied ga

That makes sense. I own my own 32 acres and my neighbors are in a similar position. Heck, they’d probably join me if I was shooting hawks.

If I lived in a suburban area I’d use a silencer.


9 posted on 10/21/2016 7:27:03 AM PDT by Mr. Douglas (Today is your life. What are you going to do with it?)
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To: from occupied ga
Yes. If predators are killing your livestock, you may protect.

He got caught. and the fact that he was told: **his selfish concern for his birds and his hobby deprived others of the opportunity to view migrating birds of prey**, sounds like BS.

Keeping of homing pigeons is a generational thing. Bushwick/Brooklyn, NY


10 posted on 10/21/2016 7:28:20 AM PDT by Daffynition (*Donald Trump represents the WILL of the PEOPLE.*~ Don King 09.24.16)
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To: from occupied ga

Obviously, the “racing enthusiast” needs faster pigeons. :-)


11 posted on 10/21/2016 7:29:06 AM PDT by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
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To: from occupied ga

12 posted on 10/21/2016 7:31:05 AM PDT by Daffynition (*Donald Trump represents the WILL of the PEOPLE.*~ Don King 09.24.16)
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To: Daffynition

Man, if you have never seen a hawk catch a pigeon you don’t know watch the words “vicious attack” means. I suppose you could consider it merciful for the pigeon but they know their business and they don’t waste time.


13 posted on 10/21/2016 7:35:07 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: Daffynition

No sympathy for this person. There are several ways to mitigate losses from hawks or other birds of prey. Did he try any of them? Instead he lures hawks in by crating pigeons, and then shoots hawks when they become trapped trying to get to the pigeons.

He got what he deserved.


14 posted on 10/21/2016 7:36:07 AM PDT by Fury
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To: from occupied ga
I gotta say I’m a bit conflicted over this one. On one hand pigeons are dirty disgusting loathsome flying rats and if the guy were my neighbor I’d really hate it, but on the other they are actual livestock and the hawks (predators) were killing the guy’s livestock. This bit about letting predators kill your livestock while you are forbidden by law to protect your property is just plain wrong.

Wasn't there a way to better protect the pigeons? If I had a henhouse that a fox was raiding, I'd shore up the defenses of the henhouse rather than kill foxes.

15 posted on 10/21/2016 7:42:06 AM PDT by Sans-Culotte (Time to get the US out of the UN and the UN out of the US.)
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To: junta

“Her sentencing by the judge was hilarious, community service at a homeless shelter kitchen where the heir supervised her help staff do the kitchen work, till the judge found out.”

I know of one even worse than that. There’s an ultra-libtard woman who lives in area. She’s an ‘activist’ of sorts. Went to Iraq to be a ‘human shield’, but left a day before the war began. She goes out and protests at nuclear sites and then prides herself on getting arrested when security has to drag her off. Well, her luck ran out when she went to protest the US detainment of the high value savages at Gitmo, by going to Ft Huachuca in AZ and trespassing to get herself arrested. The federal judge was quite lenient IMO, having pity on this ‘poor old woman’, and only sentenced her to 500 hours of community service. Clever as she was, she put the land she owns and lives on in some sort of tax exempt land trust that would qualify for her ‘community service’ by doing nothing but working on her own land!!! This same bitch used to brag about being friends with Janet Reno.


16 posted on 10/21/2016 7:44:00 AM PDT by Carthego delenda est
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To: from occupied ga

Hawks are an unmitigated predator that accounts for the decline of game species such as Pheasants, rabbits and quail. Protected status should be revoked and they should be hunted the same as foxes and coyotes.


17 posted on 10/21/2016 7:46:50 AM PDT by BobinIL
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To: Sans-Culotte

“Wasn’t there a way to better protect the pigeons? If I had a henhouse that a fox was raiding, I’d shore up the defenses of the henhouse rather than kill foxes.”

Exactly. You’d never kill all the foxes.


18 posted on 10/21/2016 7:47:20 AM PDT by Carthego delenda est
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To: Fury

No sympathy for this person. There are several ways to mitigate losses from hawks or other birds of prey.

_____________________________________________________

We used to keep chickens, down to only a few now but the hawks would routinely inspect the fenced chicken yard to see if they could get at the chickens. The hawks don’t like to get inside the fenced area because it takes them several feet to get airborne. On occasion a chicken would decide to check out the other side of the fence, the hawk sees all. A chicken can fly, not long and usually not high but with a whole lot of effort they can get over a 6 foot fence. Soon the hapless chicken would have a broken neck and a hawk trying to butcher it before my wife could chase the hawk off. The chicken would end up in our pot not the hawks but it makes you real mad. These animals are not pets but you do have an attachment after taking care of them for years. They all become individuals with their own personalities.

Anyway, I understand where the guy was coming from. I never shot the hawk(s). They were always watching, they would have been easy pickings for my 22 and while I do have neighbors one shot from the 22 would never be noticed. I have to admit I though about it more than once.


19 posted on 10/21/2016 7:49:14 AM PDT by JAKraig (my religion is at least as good as yours)
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To: Daffynition

I can sympathize. We keep purple martins in summer. It’s alot of work and $$. Hawks love picking the them off. Migrate? They know where the buffet is and don’t leave. English sparrows are another pain. But I’m able to kill them since they aren’t protected.


20 posted on 10/21/2016 7:56:05 AM PDT by arbee4bush (My Dad, My Hero. Love You Dad!!)
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