Lady feeding raptors - law on my side?

[Achickenwrangler#1]

What can be said... you live in a state that doesn't know how to manage it's resources and really doesn't care about anything other than money. My grandparents retired there in the seventies, they were officials on the audabon society for many decades. Do you know why there are no flamingos in Florida any longer? Because when the gulf harbor resort was built in ft Myers, Florida they completely destroyed the ONLY flamingo breeding estuary and hatching habitat in the northern hemisphere...along with most of the briny shrimp hatchery. No shrimp, no flamingos - the state officials were made well aware of this, with all the reasearch and demonstrations, they poo pooed all scientific facts and research, laughed and called us tree hugging hippies and said there's so much land available, they will go somewhere else...no...there was NO where else to go where the environment was so perfect to breed, incubate, raise the chicks with an available food source. Late seventies....someone lined their pockets with cash on that resort, for letting the permits go through and drain yet another habitat. Forgive me, but I hope they go to Hell.
They just built coconut point mall - what 300 acres and had to set aside a % for natural habitat and wetland - have you seen it? It's in the back, next to the garbage dump, all those birds are crowded into a teeny little area where I'm sure they will become starved disease ridden and die. All the exotic birds of Florida treated with such disregard ...it's beyond despicable...I don't understand why people feel like they have to 'improve' on nature, why they can't see the beauty of a cypress head, no, they have to drain it, lay sod and import plants.
Just look at the everglades. Enough. They will not see beyond past cash in their wallets.
Anyway, a small consolation, I managed to corner one of the states senators and when I found out where he lived - you guessed it - I decided he needed to know what sort of burial ground he was living on. If you think I rambled on here....poor guy, I almost started to feel sorry for him because he really wasn't uncaring, yet I felt the need to educate him, every year I receive a well wishes card from him ( I never gave my address ).
Just sharing my perspective. I hope you found it interesting. It seems like the laws need a change...and meanwhile wish the best to you.

 

[Pele]

Anyone that is feeding wild hawks is not right in the head, I would be very careful in dealing with her. In the meantime, keep your chickens safe. The good thing about bad neighbors is they usually go away. I doubt she will be feeding those hawks in a year from now. I still can't believe that she is perfectly legal in doing so but in the meantime, just let it ride.

This has been my thought while reading this entire thread. The thing that most people admire about hawks is their sheer primal and raw wild beauty. Why reduce something that magnificent to the level of a parrot doing tricks for crackers? Liscensed falconry with animals that can't be rehabilitated is one thing, robbing a wild bird of prey of it's essence is another.

That doesn't even open the can of worms about how she's crippling a juvenile's formation of hunting abilities. What happens when she gets bored and stops feeding it? It starves and dies because it's used to being fed like livestock, that's what. And I agree that she's highly unlikely to be giving these birds balanced nutrition.

I don't trust this lady's stability, nor her potential reaction to the fireworks. I think they're going to prompt retaliation, especially with how she's reacted to imaginary shotguns that she's made up stories about in her head (although it's entirely possible another nearby neighbor is just as upset, and just using SSS).

Before escalating to the fireworks, I'd definitely talk over what research you've done with the property owners. Tell them how extreme things have gotten, how she's purposefully attracting predator animals to the property (I bet she leaves scraps behind and other animals come at night to bother the horses. Not to mention flies, horse owners HATE those), how she's harrassing you, etc. They need to know if they have a boarder that is misusing their property. They also need to know that their neighbor is being driven to consider measures that could affect their business.

If she's so set on doing this, why can't she volunteer at a wild bird rescue where she'll actually benefit the birds? It's because she doesn't care about the birds in the slightest. I hate it when animals have to suffer so needlessly for crazy vanity and powertripping.

 

[ChickNhood]

Apparently you haven't familiarized yourself with the federal law protecting birds of prey. Even if they are in the act of attacking your livestock (your chickens) it is STILL illegal to kill them. The fact is, you have to take it into your hands to make your chickens safe, rather than eliminating the bird of prey. If they don't have the opportunity to eat your chickens, then there is no problem.

Legal or not id still shoot em!

 

[AmyLM]

Thank you! And yet another tool to use - the media. I will look into this...

How would I go about doing this though?

I would start by calling the local TV stations and explain that your neighbor is feeding raw meat to birds of prey even though you have asked her not to because of your concern for the safety of your birds and the fact that its attracting more predators to the area... and this is the point that you should stress... Shes calling them her pets and was trying to feed osprey (if that's whats illegal in your area) and that by doing so shes teaching the birds to associate people with food.

A **LOT** of people are very concerned about birds of prey and their small pets (small dogs/cats). I know this because I grew up in an area with a TON of hawks, eagles and osprey all in a very condensed area. People WILL get upset if they know that someone is feeding them intentionally.

 

[AmyLM]

This has been my thought while reading this entire thread. The thing that most people admire about hawks is their sheer primal and raw wild beauty. Why reduce something that magnificent to the level of a parrot doing tricks for crackers? Liscensed falconry with animals that can't be rehabilitated is one thing, robbing a wild bird of prey of it's essence is another.

That doesn't even open the can of worms about how she's crippling a juvenile's formation of hunting abilities. What happens when she gets bored and stops feeding it? It starves and dies because it's used to being fed like livestock, that's what. And I agree that she's highly unlikely to be giving these birds balanced nutrition.

I don't trust this lady's stability, nor her potential reaction to the fireworks. I think they're going to prompt retaliation, especially with how she's reacted to imaginary shotguns that she's made up stories about in her head (although it's entirely possible another nearby neighbor is just as upset, and just using SSS).

Before escalating to the fireworks, I'd definitely talk over what research you've done with the property owners. Tell them how extreme things have gotten, how she's purposefully attracting predator animals to the property (I bet she leaves scraps behind and other animals come at night to bother the horses. Not to mention flies, horse owners HATE those), how she's harrassing you, etc. They need to know if they have a boarder that is misusing their property. They also need to know that their neighbor is being driven to consider measures that could affect their business.

If she's so set on doing this, why can't she volunteer at a wild bird rescue where she'll actually benefit the birds? It's because she doesn't care about the birds in the slightest. I hate it when animals have to suffer so needlessly for crazy vanity and powertripping.

I agree. If shes boarding her horses there and you start setting off fireworks your much more likely to REALLY piss off the property owner and everyone else that has horses there. Horses dont react well to fireworks and if they panic enough it could cause injury or deaths. Try other things first.

 

[Kevin565]

Legal or not id still shoot em!

Why? Hawks are a protected species for a reason. They have been over hunted for many years and are finally recovering to a stable population size. They are killing your chickens for the fun of it or spite they do what is in their nature. They are simply trying to survive. Not to mention in many areas hawks have been there for decades. If we decide to move onto land inhabited by them it is our responsibility as animal owners to protect our animals. There is no possible way you can kill every possible predator that is in your area. Not to mention the fines that entail shooting or harming them. It's cheaper to build a secure predator proof yard than take fines for harming endangered species.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Perhaps they need to train their horses to not fear fireworks, it's easy. Lotta people hunt from horseback, not training them is dangerous, suppose you were riding them and a loud noise occurred. Anyway, bottom line, the law is NOT on your side. Odds are you live near crazy people. It happens.

 

[Outlawfarms]

I don't like the idea of killing thing small flock or not . I have a few hundred birds most are bantams which dont free rang. I have had coons possaums a hawk and fox kill off over half of my flock while I was out of town on vacation. The coons and possoums pulled the bantams right through the wire of their cages. the hawk anf foxes killed every one of my ducks and ee's that free ranged so yes I trapped and killed these. I trapped 5 coond a 4 possoums along with a fox which the naighbor was feeding unkonw to me untill two days after it was gone did he come to my door and asked if I had see his fox. I asked why .He said he had beed feeding one cooked chicken and it had not shown up in a few days. I played stupid and said no I hadn't seem any foxes. This lose was in the thousands.
Wheather on not you have a small or large flock any lose is a hard one if your birds are just pets or/and your income. I also lost around $600 to another two legged preditor. I now have a large dog who grauds my hen house and my free rangers also have serval little dogs , a goose and guinies which seems to keep most of the critter out of my flock . the ones I have to worry about now is Snakes stealing my eggs and chicks.

 

[spolicas]

Today as I was riding down the dirt road on my tractor, my neighbor stopped me. He apologized that the lady was rude to me and told me she was crazy. He also said he is going to encourage her not to do anything, but that if I need to talk with her and be stern I may do so. We shook on it, I'm glad we can still make verbal handshake contracts down here on these dirt roads!

I also told him all the various solutions I had available at my disposal and he said he would help me with them if the lady does not quit feeding the birds. Now I have diplomatic and financial (since she boards at his place) strings to pull.

Best thing is that I was praying on the way up the road I would get some resolution of this situation, and lo and behold on the way back down the road The Lord answered my prayer and my neighbor came to talk with me!

 

[AmyLM]

that is FANTASTIC to hear. Glad someone on that property has common since