Pigeon keepers charged in falcon cruelty case

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Eleven pigeon enthusiasts have been charged with beating, shooting dead and suffocating dozens of hawks and falcons in a bid to protect their pigeons during flying competitions, prosecutors said on Thursday.

After a nationwide undercover probe of little-known California "roller pigeon" clubs, investigators estimated that 1,000-2,000 protected falcons and hawks are killed each year in the Los Angeles area alone.

The roller pigeon enthusiasts breed and fly a special type of bird with a genetic defect that makes it flip backward in mid-flight, making it an especially easy targets for predator birds.

Prosecutors said the defendants used traps to collect hawks and falcons, then used sticks or pellet guns to kill the birds. Some of the accused admitted to the undercover agent during the 14-month investigation that they used shotguns to shoot the predators out of the air.

Another said in an affidavit he sometimes sprayed hawks with a bleach and ammonia solution, which created chlorine gas that suffocated the birds.

One defendant told an investigator he had filled a five-gallon bucket with talons he had cut from slain hawks.

"This is a group of hobbyists who selectively inbred a genetic defect that attracts predators," then seemed to "feel entitled ... to engage in the wholesale slaughter of these predators," said assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Johns.

The defendants belong to clubs that promote and compete with roller pigeons, which are native to England. Competition involves having a group of the pigeons roll or flip back simultaneously and recover before hitting the ground.

The birds of prey, including Cooper's hawks, Peregrine falcons and red-tailed hawks, are protected from harassment and from being killed under the U.S. migratory birds act.

The defendants -- seven in the Los Angeles area, three in Oregon and one in Texas -- are charged with unlawful or attempted unlawful taking of a migratory bird.

They were arrested and charged this week and face a maximum prison term of six months, the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles said.

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poor creatures