May 25, 2007

YOU MEAN IT ISN'T DDT?:

Pigeon club members face U.S. charges: Area hobbyists kill thousands of hawks and falcons annually, wildlife officials allege, because some raptors attack their birds (Joe Mozingo, May 25, 2007, LA Times)

Federal agents went undercover, conducting nighttime surveillance, setting up remote cameras and digging through trash cans, searching for possible criminal activity among Southern California's roller pigeon rings.

Roller pigeons, you ask?

Roller pigeons are bred for a genetic quirk that strikes in mid-flight, causing a brief seizure that sends the birds spiraling uncontrollably toward the ground. Thousands of hobbyists compete to see who can best make their birds roll in unison.

But for a hawk or falcon, a plummeting roller pigeon is fast food. Fed up by raptors spoiling their sport, some of the leading competitors in the roller pigeon field began illegally killing the predators, according to a federal indictment released Thursday.


Environmentalists don't care to acknowledge it, for obvious reasons, but pretty nearly the entire raptor comeback is a function of hunting bans.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 25, 2007 7:11 AM
Comments

Wow, just when you think you've heard of the stupidest sport in the world another one comes along and trumps it. With apologies to the Noetic Covenant, I'm rooting for the raptors.

Posted by: Bryan at May 25, 2007 8:46 AM

"You don't see a Red-tailed or a Coopers's every time you go out the door."

Actually, I do. What I don't see are Ringnecks.

Posted by: Lou Gots at May 25, 2007 8:57 AM

I see redtails (sometimes) and regular hawks (2-5)everyday down here in the boondocks of Irvine, CA - yee hawww!!

Posted by: KRS at May 25, 2007 12:16 PM

Routing for the raptors to get the "sportsmen," not the poor pigeons.

Posted by: erp at May 25, 2007 5:02 PM

Pigeons are flying rats.

More hawks please.

And of course, falconry is the sport of kings.

Posted by: Jim in Chicago at May 25, 2007 9:18 PM

Pigeons are rats with wings...look at your history books...the very rats saved thousands of AMerican, British and Canadian soldiers during WW2...while delivering messages when all other communications failed. More pigeons won metals of honor then any other animal during the wars. The planning for the stomring of Normandy was planned by information delivered by pigeons....pigeons were dropped in France and the French freedom fighter would map out artillary and bunker locations and then they would put the maps on the pigeons leg and send them off to the allies. The history channel or discovery channel did documentary called the "wings of war"...watch it and you will think different..especially when they interview the soldiers that those little birds saved. The dove or "rock dove" (pigeon) is one of "gods creatures" in the bible. Anyway...I do not condone the killing of raptors...but the actions of few do not represent the many.

Paul

Posted by: Paul at May 28, 2007 2:09 PM

Although I think these guys should suffer the consequences IF FOUND GUILTY (they haven't yet), before you get too judgmental, consider this the next time you pick up your cell phone or flip a light switch on.

"Communication towers may kill from 4-50 million birds per year. Collisions with power
transmission and distribution lines may kill anywhere from hundreds of thousands to 175
million birds annually, and power lines electrocute tens to hundreds of thousands more
birds annually, but these utilities are poorly monitored for both strikes and electrocutions.
More than 15,000 wind turbines may kill 40,000 or more birds annually nationwide, the
majority in California." quote from a study

The leading cause of death in urban areas of the endangered Harris Hawk... electrocution on power lines.

If those roller guys only had the political clout of the power and communication industries, they'd have nothing to worry about.

Posted by: steve at May 30, 2007 9:52 AM
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