Neighbor busted for hawk death

[chickenlady08]

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OMG! I think that it is terrible to kill a Bald Eagle. Now granted I dont want them to feast on my flock, but this is the symbol of the US and one beautifully majestic bird. Hope he got into serious doody.

 

[mmpb1]

When I was growing up chickens and eggs were part of our survival. Some hens were in a coop but most of the other chickens roosted in trees. Owls and hawks were the enemies. Daddy shot and trapped varmints quite successfully.

Now I am older and don't have to survive off the land (yet!); I have tolerance for most creatures. Redtails have nested in a big pine near our house. Crows nest on our place, along with many other species of creatures.

One of my hens died/was killed in the henhouse. I was going to retrieve her carcass and there was a young hawk- feeding. He did not kill her but what to do with him? Got a saddle blanket, grabbed him and took him to see my grandsons. We looked at his talons, his fine feathers, his impressive beak, then let him fly. My hope was that my guys would see the beauty of predators. I am so proud of them; as young adults they hunt and harvest animals for food, but do not kill for fun.

There are two creatures (animal) that have no value in my world- feral hogs and european starlings. No, spell checker I will not dignify these birds with a capital E!

One way that I protect my birds when they free range is to have plenty of cover. They all know when BlackBeard sounds the alarm- run-find cover! Sometimes it's just a buzzard, but BlackBeard is the man! Guineas tend to cry wolf too often.

Margie

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

growing up we shot at hawks each time we saw they near our chickens...but now that I know better. I would never shoot any one of them..especially after reading this thread..

 

[littlefarm_bighappy]

I always wondered if WI was just super protecive of their raptors- looks like it really is a federal thing!

My Dad came darn close to a $10,000 fine- his crime- he took the foot of a roadkilled Great Horned owl (he would never kill a raptor, he's an amateur Ornithologist) and preserved it with the beautiful talons stretched out. He put it in the shack where he boils maple syrup and the DNR FOUND it. Crazy.


Lucky, they believed him and just confiscated the foot.

They will do ballistic testing here to track down raptor killers.

 

[NC29mom]

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EXACTLY!!


***some people just love to brag about what they have done, so if she did, she deserved the fine!

 

[Lorije1]

from http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/08/20/egg-splained-free-range-cage-free-and-organic/


Free-range: The USDA does not specify the quality or size of the outside range nor the duration of time an animal must have access to the outside or the amount of space available to them, and there is no mandate that the chickens are fed organically or are hormone and antibiotic-free.

For a chicken - and their eggs - to be labeled "free-range" or "free-roaming" the USDA regulations state, "Producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside." According to the Egg Safety Board, outside the United States, free-range "denotes a method of farming husbandry where the animals are allowed to roam freely instead of being contained in any manner."

While some egg producers are truly free-range, and the chickens remain outdoors for a good deal of the time, there is nothing preventing a factory farm from labeling eggs as free range, merely because the structure in which the chickens live has a door to an outside yard.

As author Michael Pollan notes in 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' – his 2006 treatise on the origins of several modern foods – "Since the food and water remain inside the shed, and since the little doors remain shut until the birds are at least five weeks old and well settled into their habits, the chickens apparently see no reason to venture into what must seem for them an unfamiliar and terrifying world." There's a very good chance that a free-range chicken, raised for either eggs or meat, has never seen the light of day.

 

[VioletBlueIvy]

When I took hunters safety they said if you find any protected species dead in the road you cant touch it or you will get fined.....

Edited to add;

If you can find a raptor rehab center or sanctuary near you, it is a wonderful experience getting to see these magnificent birds.
It is also heartbreaking to see the ones missing wings and eyes and feet that will never fly or be free again just because of some humans bad judgment. If your not sure if you support such laws, that will sell you on it!
I wouldnt like it, but I would never exact revenge on a wild animal for doing what comes natural to them. There are always more chickens, but there wont always be more of these protected species.
I also feel that if something gets my chickens it's my fault for not protecting them well enough.

 

[theFox]

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It is even stricter than that VioletBlueIvy, in Maine it is illegal to have any part of any wild animal that you have not legally taken or have been given by someone who has legally taken it (this requires documentation provided to you by the person that legally took the animal).

 

[aprophet]

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[aprophet]

I am not sure who is doing it but they are constantly shot in NE NC. and SE VA. right up against the national wildlife refuge out in the feild you can see them from the bypass around elizabeth city near hertford