Hawk Feeds on Pigeons at Ohio Home Depot

Associated Press / Newsday.com ^ | February 25, 2004, 8:34 AM EST | A.P.

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio -- One visitor to Home Depot has been hunting for more than home improvement items.

A Cooper's hawk has been flying above the stocked shelves at a suburban Cleveland store for more than a week while feeding on pigeons that live in the rafters.

The brown bird's three-foot wing span casts a moving shadow across the concrete floor, causing customers and workers to duck and cock their heads toward the 25-foot ceiling.

The hawk entered the store through an open door while chasing a pigeon last Saturday. It caught its prey above the electrical aisle, worker Craig Warth said. Witnesses saw the hawk rip the pigeon apart and feed until nothing was left but feathers and claws.

"It wasn't a pretty sight," said Terry McGuire, assistant manager. "Some of the customers were upset. Some said it was the neatest thing they had ever seen."

Workers said about 15 pigeons were living in the store, but since the hawk arrived, few are left. Cooper's hawks are a protected species, so the bird can't be harmed or killed.

Local wildlife experts say the hawk will likely leave when the pigeons are gone.

Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

I'm calling PETA! That hawk should be shot!

[.38sw]

NO! Catch that hawk, and send it to my neighborhood! There are pigeons everyone. We have a bunch of them roosting on a crossbeam in the front of the house. I hate them. They're flying rats. No, I can't shoot them. This is a suburban area with the houses very close together, and if I'm seen in the front yard with anything resembling a firearm, I'm sure the SWAT team will be here in 10 seconds flat.

[cyborg]

heh... The Circle of Life? I'm sure the home depot manager is secretly happy because pigeons are filthy.

[LizardQueen]

Very cool. Raptors are neat birds. And this one is doing Home Depot a favor, gory as it may be. Those pigeons are probably pooping all over their stock.

We had a hawk sitting on our deck railing a foot from the back door last week. We have bird feeders that the squirrels, chipmunks, and mice are always at - I think he was hunting around them.

LQ

[ghost of nixon]

"Some of the customers were upset. DEMOCRATS

Some said it was the neatest thing they had ever seen." REPUBLICANS

[ContemptofCourt]

We have a hawk that live in our neighborhood...the thing is huge and awesome. It could easily eat small dogs and cats.

[NotQuiteCricket]

I had a small dog who would go crazy when he saw a shadow moving over the ground. We figured that he had been attacked as a puppy and had managed to get away.

[cripplecreek]

PETA would have fits if they came to my house. I have 10 5lb feeders that daw in hundreds of birds including doves, squirells and chipmunks. the result is that ive attracted hawks as well. Even had a bald eagle hanging around the lake last summer.

[TBall]

When I was a little boy my grandfather would pay me a nickle for every pigeon I killed in his warehouse. He would give me his pellet gun and I would be occupied for hours while he did paper work.

[theFIRMbss]

>NO! Catch that hawk, and send it to my neighborhood!

On Travel Channel,
they showed a fancy hotel
in some Arab place

where the management
employs a hawk & master
and regularly

has the hawk patrol
the grounds. Keeps the fancy place
pigeon free and clean.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I saw a hawk ripping the feathers out of a pigeon just outside of my workplace a few years ago. It was really neat to watch. I just wish I could have watched it knock it down in mid air.

[al baby]

that hawk ought to try the spicy dog with a coke

[Gorzaloon]

We have a hawk that live in our neighborhood...the thing is huge and awesome. It could easily eat small dogs and cats.

We have a Marsh Hawk (Harrier) that uses our bird feeders as a Mcdonald's.

Unfortunately, he found the koi pond. Before we noticed, in a few days he had a "Seafood Festival", ate EVERYTHING, some of which were ten years old and quite large.

After he was though, he brought his WIFE, to show her and gloat.

We checked out the replacement cost and nearly croaked..We were given those fish when they were tiny..and now..Forget it!

[Muleteam1]

>>Workers said about 15 pigeons were living in the store, but since the hawk arrived, few are left.<<

Neat story. Pigeons are very adaptive. I doubt all the missing birds have been eaten but instead have beat feet.

Muleteam1

[katykelly]

We have hawks and falcons "feeding" at our bird feeders all the time. Very cool to watch.

[al baby]

Here

[TXBSAFH]

That is the way of nature.

[A. Pole]

No, I can't shoot them. This is a suburban area with the houses very close together, and if I'm seen in the front yard with anything resembling a firearm, I'm sure the SWAT team will be here in 10 seconds flat.

There are more discreet ways to catch them. And they taste VERY GOOD!

[woofie]

All they need to do is pass a law protecting the pigeons as well

[Teacher317]

Wow. I would pay a cover charge to watch that!