Woman beats hunter's pet falcon to death in a bid to save wild duck's life

Authorities say Patti MacDonald fractured the skull of pet Falcon named Hornet with beaded Scarf

An Idaho woman who is suspected of beating a hunter's falcon to death with a beaded scarf after she saw it take down a duck is facing a misdemeanor charge that the pet's owner thinks is too lenient.

Patti MacDonald, 60, of Hauser, was charged with beating or harassing an animal after authorities say she fractured the skull of an eight-year-old falcon named Hornet on January 7.

Hornet's owner, Scott Dinger, said MacDonald should be charged with killing a protected species.

Dinger, who was hunting with Hornet at the time, was about 500 yards away when the bird of prey made a successful attack and landed with the duck.

He said he was approaching the spot when he saw MacDonald's red Jeep Wrangler pull up.

Hornet flew away but appeared injured and Dinger found him dead about an hour later, the Coeur d'alene Press reported.

The duck also died.

Craig Walker, a regional conservation officer for the Idaho Fish and Game Department, said he received an anonymous call from a woman saying she tried to save a duck from a falcon.

Beating or harassing an animal is punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $5,000 for a first-time offender.

Apparently this guy had a hunting permit and was hunting in an area he had permission to hunt in. She saw the falcon attack the duck, which it had to eat to survive, and went ape-crap on the falcon. The falcon being hand raised since it came out of the egg, saw no danger in her approaching and apparently didn't try to fly away from her. Seriously people, does nobody understand nature anymore? Nobody? I can understand if the falcon had killed the duck and then flew away wanting nothing to do with it, but falcons are hunters. They are predators in the wild. They hunt, and they eat. When our family friend was taking care of a falcon and a barn owl, she had to kill fresh rabbit, skin them, and give the rabbit meat to the two birds still bloody for them to eat. She wasn't fond of doing it, but she understood the nature of the birds and what they ate. I hope this hunter sues this lady for the cost of another falcon, as well as the cost of raising that previous falcon. They are NOT cheap birds!

a reply to: Anyafaj

That's some messed up #e right there. I love animals. All of em, but if I saw a natural predator attacking natural prey I wouldn't try and beat the predator to death. Considering BOTH animals died and for absolutely no purpose now. I would be absolutely furious if I were that man who had raised the falcon from birth. What a blow that must have been to him. And all because a woman wanted to save a duck. What she really wants to stop is the natural circle of life. Is she prey patrol? Does she just go around policing the woods and beating to death every animal that try's to eat another?

And not for nothing but I bet the odds of her being carnivorous herself are pretty high. Maybe someone should beat her to death with a beaded scarf for eating a chicken cutlet. Lmao

/rant over

We've become so ego driven that we now feel like we can tell nature how it works best...

You know... Because we're doing so well ourselves that it would almost be a crime to NOT aid the circle of life in a job that it has been doing quite successfully for eons.

The irony. It hurts.

Far too lenient, raising a Bird of Prey is nothing like raising a cat or dog, they require special training and equipment and by no means is it cheap. I started looking into it after a video made the ATS rounds about a falcon or eagle making an Air to air kill on a drone a few months ago. I hope the falconer can bring up further legal action against the women, I would try had it been my aerial buddy.

originally posted by: StratosFear
Far too lenient, raising a Bird of Prey is nothing like raising a cat or dog, they require special training and equipment and by no means is it cheap. I started looking into it after a video made the ATS rounds about a falcon or eagle making an Air to air kill on a drone a few months ago. I hope the falconer can bring up further legal action against the women, I would try had it been my aerial buddy.

That's what I figured. That it had to be incredibly expensive between training, food when they're young, I'm sure you'd have to buy it, kill it, etc.... until they can do it on their own. Not to mention, the bird itself must cost quite a bit. And it just recently got off the endangered list, so yeah, I'd definitely go after this woman for a pretty penny.

The bird was "trained" to hone it's predatory skills and follow commands. If she was looking for a fight, it was in the wrong place.

Poor bird.

originally posted by: StratosFear
Far too lenient, raising a Bird of Prey is nothing like raising a cat or dog, they require special training and equipment and by no means is it cheap. I started looking into it after a video made the ATS rounds about a falcon or eagle making an Air to air kill on a drone a few months ago. I hope the falconer can bring up further legal action against the women, I would try had it been my aerial buddy.

i've never seen that video, but it sounds AWESOME. just picturing a falcon taking down a remote controlled drone. sure it couldn't have been anything too large, but still.

what amazing birds falcons are.

a reply to: Anyafaj

It`s the law as it is.

6 months in jail and $5,000 is still a serious penalty, which she should get.

Maybe people need to watch more nature documentaries, "shaking my head in disbelieve!"

originally posted by: BornAgainAlien
a reply to: Anyafaj

It`s the law as it is.

6 months in jail and $5,000 is still a serious penalty, which she should get.

Maybe people need to watch more nature documentaries, "shaking my head in disbelieve!"

Sadly though, that $5k penalty goes to the state I believe, not the gentlemen who's falcon she murdered. I think he needs to sue her civilly in order to get compensation to purchase another falcon, should he so chose.

As someone who knows a couple of falconers, my sympathies are with the falcon owner. He's a man who is devoted to his falcon and has probably spent more time with it than his wife!

To the woman who killed the bird. Ignorance is bliss. I hope she has a conscience and is able to comprehend her utter stupidity. I bet she would not have tried to remove a lion from a zebra!

a reply to: Anyafaj

that's sadly and probably the only recourse this gentleman is going to have. which, is absurd that someone has to go to court of something like this, but he needs to be compensated to the full amount for this woman's stupidity and callous action against his pet.

i hope she has to pay up and i hope she thinks twice before trying to play wildlife savior again. i just can't get over the fact that BOTH animals died because of that idiot.

Fractured its scull with a beaded scarf? That must have been some scarf!

man kills wild duck with captive falcon

woman kills captive falcon with scarf

why is one worse than the other?

i think the only issue you can have with this, is that the woman destroyed the man's 'property'

a wild falcon is a beautiful thing - that is natural

imo this falcon was a 'toy'

a reply to: aynock

I disagree with you. Falcons and hawks do "escape" and go on to live lives in the wild. They are a bit fickle like that, and certainly move on if they are unhappy. The link between the falcon and the falconer is a fine balance between satisfying the hawks need to fly and live naturally, and a link of loyalty and trust to the falconer.

You can wallop your dog and it will come back, because it is essentially domesticated. If you wallop your hawk it will not come back.

Note, I am not suggesting people experiment with their dogs!

a reply to: paraphi

the main problem i have is with the man killing wild animals for fun - something i disagree with

also, i don't like the idea of keeping wild animals as pets - domesticated animals are a different matter - not that i would personally keep one of those either

many falconers treat their animals very well, but some don't - a lot of 'kids' in my area like to keep sparrowhawks and go out hunting birds with them for 'a bit of fun' - many of them are not kept well, and are flown in areas where it is illegal to do so, often during the breeding season

the motivation of the woman (however misguided) was to try and save the duck - i suspect she wasn't trying to kill the falcon

the motivation of the man was to kill the duck

i feel as equally sorry about the needless death of the duck as the needless death of the falcon - but then i'm a big fan of all birds - especially wild ones - and especially raptors

People are crazy.

Perhaps it was a scarf like this one:

www.dhresource.com...

If you scaled the size of those beads so that the ratio to a falcon skull match that of a human skull, it would be like a human being struck with a chain of bowling balls.

Seems like nature taking it's course. The bigger predator killed the smaller predator or are humans no longer a part of nature?

a reply to: Anyafaj

That really sucks. Without more to go on, it sounds more like the woman just tried to shoo away the falcon but the beads killed it. Honestly, if I swung a scarf at a bird, I wouldn't do it with the expectation of actually harming the bird.

For all we know, she feels awful about it and didn't want to hurt anything, let alone kill a protected species.

originally posted by: CallmeRaskolnikov
a reply to: Anyafaj

that's sadly and probably the only recourse this gentleman is going to have. which, is absurd that someone has to go to court of something like this, but he needs to be compensated to the full amount for this woman's stupidity and callous action against his pet.

i hope she has to pay up and i hope she thinks twice before trying to play wildlife savior again. i just can't get over the fact that BOTH animals died because of that idiot.

Very sadly, because this falcon was a pet, chances are, in civil court, he will only get the amount he paid for the bird, and not a penny more. Most civil courts will not allow you to collect pain and suffering for a pet. It's BS, but I've noticed it on a lot of court shows.