Posted by Terry Sohl on April 17, 2006 at 11:34 PM
ARGH!!! Not much of a point here except to vent.
I was out trying to get photos of Great-tailed Grackles at a local slough (they're pretty uncommon up here), when a SUV pulled up. Nothing happened for a very long time, but finally, 2 boys got out and immediately started shooting every bird they could get. Great-tailed Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Cowbirds, they were all fair game.
The worst? Going back to my car, I saw two women, presumably the boys' mother(s), waiting in the car. How nice!! They made a special trip to a wildlife area, just so their boys could pop off the local songbirds!!
THIS is why I'm such a massive cynic about the human race. At least I have crystal clear photos of the action, the boys, and the car and license plate to turn in to South Dakota GFP.
ARGH!!
Posted by David Stokely on April 18, 2006 at 12:18 PM
I cannot imagine. You showed extreme self-restraint. Guns or no guns, I'm afraid I might have been prone to violence at that. Hope the state acts on your evidence.
Posted by Mary Dennis on April 26, 2006 at 10:27 AM
Terry,
While I certainly share your basic cynicism about the human race and I'm sure those two women and the boys didn't really give a rat's ass about what was around them, I'm wondering what purpose it would serve to turm them into the South Dakota GFP? They didn't break any laws did they, other than offending your sensibilities and prevent you from getting any more bird shots? I don't know, maybe there is (or should be) some etiquette law or something....and a monetary penalty for breaking it!! Maybe that's what the world is coming to.....arrrgh!
ADDED: OHHHHH>>>> I re-read your post. They were shooting guns??? Not cameras??? It wasn't clear at first because "shooting" to me always means with a camera!!! What complete morons! I hope they got in trouble then. Did you turn them in?
If you don' t get a response from the state officers I think you should go to the USFWS. If you need some connections then I can probably help.
Feel free to email me about the outcome or if you have comments.
Unless laws were broken, I doubt the authorities will do much. You may find local reporters a better resource - send your photos and the story to local publications and TV stations and see if any of them will pick it up - expose the shame in public. If nothing else the resulting debate may serve as warning to others or even influence policy/enforcement.
FYI the migratory bird act states that it is illegal to kill any bird species unless they are game birds in season. The only exceptions are pigeons, starlings and house sparrows. None of the birds listed are game birds so they were breaking the law.
Yes, it is illegal according to the Migratory bird treaty.
As a follow-up...I did contact both SD GFP, and USFWS. I was contacted by the local USFWS enforcement officer, who asked for the license plate and the photos I took. He called me back a few days later, saying that it was one of the boys' older sister and her friend who actually drove them to this spot. He said he went to each of the boys' homes, sat down with each boy and his parents, and explained the illegal nature of their activity.
Guess that's all I could have asked for. A lot of folks just don't realize that it is illegal, although I can't imagine them thinking it's OK to shoot any living creature they want to.
THANK YOU for turning them in. I'm surprised and dismayed, though, that all they got was a "talking to" for breaking a federal law. Maybe that's why they didn't think much of it, and why it probably won't stop them from doing it again in the future should the urg arise. Sigh.
Terry, while I was outraged at what the boys in your story did, I think you did exactly the right thing. And way to capture the pertinent action.
I also think the outcome was OK. The officer on the scene has wide discretion in these cases. Putting the kids in juvie lockup and running them before a judge would likely have produced a slap on the wrist, and it's quite possible the USFWS officer put the fear of God into those boys. I moved to North Dakota farm country when I was a boy, and if the culture in the next state to the south is like what it was when I was growing up to the north, most any bird you can get close enough to is fair game for the BB gun. I had my own eposide with a dead house wren when I was 8, and my grandmother said some things to me that still echo in my head to this day. Plus, the pounding my butt took from the belts that held the milkers under those dairy cows remains with me more than 35 years later, too.
If the boys truly learned a lesson, it was a great outcome. If they keep doing it but just get sneakier about it, then it wasn't that great.
Discussion
9 repliesI was out trying to get photos of Great-tailed Grackles at a local slough (they're pretty uncommon up here), when a SUV pulled up. Nothing happened for a very long time, but finally, 2 boys got out and immediately started shooting every bird they could get. Great-tailed Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Cowbirds, they were all fair game.
The worst? Going back to my car, I saw two women, presumably the boys' mother(s), waiting in the car. How nice!! They made a special trip to a wildlife area, just so their boys could pop off the local songbirds!!
THIS is why I'm such a massive cynic about the human race. At least I have crystal clear photos of the action, the boys, and the car and license plate to turn in to South Dakota GFP.
ARGH!!
While I certainly share your basic cynicism about the human race and I'm sure those two women and the boys didn't really give a rat's ass about what was around them, I'm wondering what purpose it would serve to turm them into the South Dakota GFP? They didn't break any laws did they, other than offending your sensibilities and prevent you from getting any more bird shots? I don't know, maybe there is (or should be) some etiquette law or something....and a monetary penalty for breaking it!!
ADDED: OHHHHH>>>> I re-read your post. They were shooting guns??? Not cameras??? It wasn't clear at first because "shooting" to me always means with a camera!!! What complete morons! I hope they got in trouble then. Did you turn them in?
Feel free to email me about the outcome or if you have comments.
Yeah, me too. Poetic justice would be served if H5N1 turned into the monster some say it may become.
Edit - I really let my cynicism show through with that statement - sorry.
Unless laws were broken, I doubt the authorities will do much. You may find local reporters a better resource - send your photos and the story to local publications and TV stations and see if any of them will pick it up - expose the shame in public. If nothing else the resulting debate may serve as warning to others or even influence policy/enforcement.
Guy
As a follow-up...I did contact both SD GFP, and USFWS. I was contacted by the local USFWS enforcement officer, who asked for the license plate and the photos I took. He called me back a few days later, saying that it was one of the boys' older sister and her friend who actually drove them to this spot. He said he went to each of the boys' homes, sat down with each boy and his parents, and explained the illegal nature of their activity.
Guess that's all I could have asked for. A lot of folks just don't realize that it is illegal, although I can't imagine them thinking it's OK to shoot any living creature they want to.
THANK YOU for turning them in. I'm surprised and dismayed, though, that all they got was a "talking to" for breaking a federal law. Maybe that's why they didn't think much of it, and why it probably won't stop them from doing it again in the future should the urg arise. Sigh.
I also think the outcome was OK. The officer on the scene has wide discretion in these cases. Putting the kids in juvie lockup and running them before a judge would likely have produced a slap on the wrist, and it's quite possible the USFWS officer put the fear of God into those boys. I moved to North Dakota farm country when I was a boy, and if the culture in the next state to the south is like what it was when I was growing up to the north, most any bird you can get close enough to is fair game for the BB gun. I had my own eposide with a dead house wren when I was 8, and my grandmother said some things to me that still echo in my head to this day. Plus, the pounding my butt took from the belts that held the milkers under those dairy cows remains with me more than 35 years later, too.
If the boys truly learned a lesson, it was a great outcome. If they keep doing it but just get sneakier about it, then it wasn't that great.