No one will ever mistake The GolfBlogger for a tree hugger, but this is just ridiculous:
Nationwide Tour golfer Tripp Isenhour
was charged with two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals and killing a migratory bird as a result of the incident, which took place Dec. 12 at Grand Cypress Golf Club in Orlando, Fla. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 14 months in jail and $1,500 in fines.
Isenhour was taping a video called “Shoot Like a Pro” and was interrupted by the noise of the bird, according to news reports. He eventually knocked the bird out of a tree with one of his shots.
According to court documents, Isenhour got upset when a red-shouldered hawk began making noise, forcing another take. He began hitting balls at the bird, then 300 yards away, but gave up.
Isenhour started again when the hawk moved within about 75 yards, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer Brian Baine indicated in a report.
Isenhour allegedly said “I’ll get him now,” and aimed for the hawk.
A few shots later, witnesses said he hit the hawk. The bird, protected as a migratory species, fell to the ground bleeding from both nostrils.
I will confess to once killing a bird on a driving range, but that was a complete accident. I hit the ball, and the bird darted right in front of it about 50 yards out, exploding in a mass of feathers. I felt really bad.
But deliberately trying to hit a bird—with multiple shots no less—is just barbaric.
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Wow. Talk about making a birdie.
Yeah. I thought about that one. But then I decided not to use it. Glad you did. It needed to be said.
At work, our open area for our company headquarters has about 5-6 ponds with a walkway in between (which looks a little like a runway, can you figure out which Memphis company I work for?) We are on Southwind TPC where the Stanford St.Jude tourney is played.
Anyhow, the geese will build nests near the central walk between the ponds, and once they start laying eggs, you better watch out. A few years back, one of my coworkers was coming back to our building from the cafeteria, and a mother goose thought he must have gotten to close to a nest because she had been out flying or something and came in and knocked him down. He was a big guy, and when he came in he was all scratched up and dirty- it looked instead of one hit from a flying goose that he had been in a bar brawl.
I was playing a course and came upon a foursome, one of which had just hit a goose, mid-air and it fell into the pond. At that point it was still kind of flapping/flopping, but soon stopped. It’s mate was walking back and forth on the edge of the pond apparently waiting for it to respond. When we came back by, after a couple of holes, the mate was still there, sitting at the nearest point, just waiting. I’m not fond of geese, but it was sad to see the apparent grieving.
Its my understanding that the geese mate for life. So it probably was a form of grief.
I am glad he is being charged.
I will admit though to offering $20 to every few partners I play with if they take out a Canadian Goose. This time of year it is like walking a gauntlet of goose crap at the course. Then at home, we live on a 14 acre lake, and on the walking trail it is covered too—and they are nasty, mean birds. I don’t want someone to actually try to kill a goose, but I sure wouldn’t miss one of them.
The geese are indeed vermin. No one would miss a rat, and no one will miss a Canada goose.