A 65-year-old man in Macomb Township, Michigan, is paying the value for killing three younger Cooper’s hawks earlier this yr. According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Arthur Anderson shot the hawks in June to spite his utility firm. Apparently, when the utility firm advised the person that they couldn’t act on his request to take away bushes from his property as a result of some hawks had constructed a nest there, Anderson shot the protected birds.
“In June, Anderson hired a utility company to remove trees on his property,” reads a press launch from the Michigan DNR. “When the utility company refused to disturb the trees due to the birds’ habitat, Anderson retrieved a shotgun from his house and shot the nest at least five times; three dead hawks then fell to the ground.”
The DNR obtained an nameless tip about Arthur’s actions quickly afterwards, and conservation officers went out to Anderson’s dwelling to interview him and gather proof. The DNR stories that Anderson lied to officers at first and claimed that he was capturing at some nuisance squirrels within the bushes. He finally advised them the reality, nonetheless, and confessed that he shot the hawks as a result of he was mad on the utility firm.
Read Next: South Dakota Man Fined $13,300 for Poaching 14 Deer Because They Were Eating His Pine Trees
Anderson pleaded no contest to the poaching prices in district court docket on Dec. 9, and he now owes the state $4,500 in reimbursement prices ($1,500 per fowl) together with $475 in further fines. Anderson additionally faces six months’ probation. The shotgun he used to shoot the hawks was confiscated by the DNR.
“The Michigan Department of Natural Resources greatly appreciates the court system’s support in this case,” DNR’s Law Enforcement Chief Dave Shaw mentioned within the press launch. “All birds of prey are protected at the state and federal level and are an important and enjoyable part of Michigan’s natural environment.”
Cooper’s hawks are federally protected underneath the U.S. Migratory Bird Act, and it’s unlawful to shoot them in all 50 states. They had been listed as a species of particular concern in Michigan till lately, and their whole inhabitants within the state is estimated at 20,000 birds, in keeping with Michigan DNR. Often confused with sharp-shinned hawks, these raptors are referred to as “bird hawks” as a result of they prey on different, smaller fowl species. They are ceaselessly seen in suburbs and backyards, the place they lurk within the bushes and goal songbirds coming to fowl feeders.