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But I've Only Ever Helped You...
by windfalcon_art
Coffee-addled falcon
15 years ago
Birds of prey in the United States are protected by Federal law, yet this still does not stop some people from shooting them. One of the most common reasons of raptor shootings is through the outdated belief that these birds will ruin a farm by hunting livestock. True, a hawk may occasionally go after an unattended chicken (what predator WOULDN'T go after an easy meal?) but such predation on livestock is not as common as the prey raptors such as the red-tailed hawk prefer - rodents.
Red-tailed hawks are expert rodent hunters. Having one or a pair of these birds on a farm is the most cost-effective, environmentally friendly method of rodent control you can have. Yet people still shoot these birds, under the belief that they need to remove them from their property as a 'risk.' As any responsible farmer knows, putting your animals outside will ALWAYS run the risk of predation. You should be more worried about stray dogs or cats getting your chickens than a soaring hawk.
In 2002, a woman in Pennsylvania was charged with killing and trapping 171 hawks. The reason? She disliked that the birds were hunting game birds that she released on her property to train her dogs. This woman received a fine of nearly $130,000 and avoided jail time. This 'fine' was a slap on the wrist for the woman, who was a millionaire and still saw no problem with what she did.
It saddens me that raptors are still being killed for these 'reasons', which are not really reasons at all and more excuses to shoot at birds that really do more help than harm. Those who shoot hawks to protect a few chickens are shooting themselves in the foot...as these birds do more to protect crops from rodent damage than any pesticide, trap, or cat could ever do.
Watercolor on hot-press Fabriano, 5 X 9 inches
Red-tailed hawks are expert rodent hunters. Having one or a pair of these birds on a farm is the most cost-effective, environmentally friendly method of rodent control you can have. Yet people still shoot these birds, under the belief that they need to remove them from their property as a 'risk.' As any responsible farmer knows, putting your animals outside will ALWAYS run the risk of predation. You should be more worried about stray dogs or cats getting your chickens than a soaring hawk.
In 2002, a woman in Pennsylvania was charged with killing and trapping 171 hawks. The reason? She disliked that the birds were hunting game birds that she released on her property to train her dogs. This woman received a fine of nearly $130,000 and avoided jail time. This 'fine' was a slap on the wrist for the woman, who was a millionaire and still saw no problem with what she did.
It saddens me that raptors are still being killed for these 'reasons', which are not really reasons at all and more excuses to shoot at birds that really do more help than harm. Those who shoot hawks to protect a few chickens are shooting themselves in the foot...as these birds do more to protect crops from rodent damage than any pesticide, trap, or cat could ever do.
Watercolor on hot-press Fabriano, 5 X 9 inches
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Artwork (Traditional)
Fantasy
Gryphon
532 x 950
596.8 kB
Now my question is, if one wants to do more, what would be the best source for more info :3
I adore raptors of all shapes and sizes, and they've always been welcome on my family's farms (yes, even on the farms that had chickens.) It sickens me to know that so many people are so horribly ignorant of all the good these beautiful birds do.
Here in Montana to a friend of my family, out-of-state people are wanting him off his ancestral farm land, for a better view of the lake, so they terrorize by killing the game off.
What I've been told, they killed a pair of Ospreys and a pair of Bald eagles. Leaving their chicks to die, which one was saved by the local FWP enforcement after it was reported.
It's sad that none of the local enforcement isn't doing anything to stop it, despite the many a time he reported it happening to the raptors and game animals trying to live there on his land.
He has challenged people, but he got threatened once with a silenced AR-15 by 'twilight' deer hunters who were on a pontoon boat. So, yeah...they feel they own the place like it's their own reserve. He know the neighbors killed the ospreys, but the eagles he has a guess it's the same party.
The emotion you put into the face just screams "WHY, what have I done!?" to me. So sad, I would die if I saw a gryphon/hawk fall from the sky shot by some dumb human!
*and yes rats are sooo smart, we had one rat who was always getting out of her cage, no matter how we barricaded it and put stuff on the top, LOL, I love me my ratties! You should check out my most resent upload* http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5946492
And thank you for your contributions to wildlife! :) It's wonderful that you're helping out.
My grandparents used to raise game birds to train their hunting dogs. They used doves and had a large aviary to keep them in. Keeping them enclosed meant that their endurance was very low. While other people would have to shoot their birds in order to make them fall out of the sky, grandma's birds would not fly far before they were exhausted and land on the ground where the soft-mouthed dogs would retrieve them unharmed.
. . . So that woman was really dumb . . .
it saddens me when people do things like this.
Where I used to live in NE Alabama the farmers killed off the entire Hawk and Eagle population over several decades, to protect their chicken farms. Well, guess what happened, the rodent exploded, and soon the poisonous snake population got so large that during the spring and summer months you could not venture into the woods, or go swimming in any of the local lakes or creeks without getting bit.
Snakes feed on the over population of rodents, and raptors eat both rodent and snakes.
So, what are the dumbass rednecks solution now? "Clear cut all the trees!" I am being totally serious... They believe the deer hunting will be easier, and the unwanted creature (like snakes) will not have any place to hide. *Sigh*
I am glade I don't live there any more.
and oen older lady commented that in her day farmers would just shoot them and she always thought it a tragedy
Ive seenher on that trail ever work day this month lookng fora glimpes of our local beauties
I see large raptors (especially bald eagles and red tail hawks) pretty frequently where I live, and I always feel privileged to be able to see and hear them :3 I still remember a couple months ago, I was painting with my oils class on campus outside, and a red tail that lived nearby kept 'keeer'-ing....it was awesome.
Also, a (not so) fun fact, it was legal to hunt bald eagles for a long time until they became an endangered species in the United States.