No sympathy for this person. There are several ways to mitigate losses from hawks or other birds of prey.
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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.
I understand. I also understand that the guy is raising birds that are considered a food source for birds of prey. It sounds like he did not have a mew (or at least if he did it was very small) so his pigeons could take flight in an enclosed space during periods where there are large numbers of hawks in the area (e.g. during migration). Maybe he could not due to where he lived. Mews that are built for rehabbing birds of prey have to be pretty large.
I know people that got several chickens and used regular chicken wire. They became very attached to them. I cautioned them that a Great-horned Owl would tear that type of wire apart with no effort in trying to get to the chickens. They lost several until they used welded wire panels, which stopped the problem. But they were pretty sad they lost the chickens they did, because as you said, people do get attached to them.