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Hunters Shoot Down Drone of Animal Rights Group

Required Snark writes "A remote control drone operated by an animal rights group was shot down in South Carolina by a group of thwarted hunters. Steve Hindi, the group president said 'his group was preparing to launch its Mikrokopter drone to video what he called a live pigeon shoot on Sunday when law enforcement officers and an attorney claiming to represent the privately-owned plantation near Ehrhardt tried to stop the aircraft from flying.' After the shoot was halted, the drone was launched anyway, and at this point it was shot down. 'Seconds after it hit the air, numerous shots rang out,' Hindi said in the release. 'As an act of revenge for us shutting down the pigeon slaughter, they had shot down our copter.' 'It is important to note how dangerous this was, as they were shooting toward and into a well-travelled highway,' Hindi stated in the release."

28 of 1,127 comments (clear)

  1. This is interesting and all... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    but I don't come to slashdot for this. Is it because they use the word 'drone' instead of remote control helicopter that this becomes something for nerds?

  2. bird shot by stoolpigeon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    bird shot fired from a shot gun - upwards - is harmless. It comes down softly. The only way to hurt someone is to shoot them directly and they would still need to be within a few meters. There are other types of shotgun ammunition that can do a lot more harm but the shot for dove, pigeon, etc. is very small and light.

    --
    It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
  3. Animal Rights? by Maimun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Animals do not have "rights", at least not in the sense humans do. A human has right to live. A pigeon does not have that right -- if one believes otherwise, one has to prevent pigeons from being killed by predators. The "animal rights" activists agree (I think; I have met a few of those) that it is OK animals to kill each other (which they do all the time anyway) and no "rights violation" happens when a hawk kills a pigeon. However, for some strange reason, animals rights are violated when people kill them -- at least, according to the "animal rights" activists. Go figure...

    1. Re:Animal Rights? by AC-x · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes, PETA is trying to get antislavery law to be applied against animals, which if successful will seriously change everything...

      No, PETA is just trolling the media for lots of free publicity. They're very good at it.

    2. Re:Animal Rights? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think you don't really unterstand what animal rights activists are fighting for (or you're lame attempt to troll made you look like an arrogant person).

      Animal rights activists aren't trying to stop the killing of animals altogether. They are trying to stop the unnecessary killing and torture of animals. Thanks to them, most animals are put asleep/sedated before being killed to be sold as food or used for research (Animal Vivisection). Some people kill or torture animals only for entertainment.
      That's just like human rights activists aren't trying to stop the killing of soldiers in wars, they are only tying to reduce the deaths and injuries to people who aren't actively enganged in battles. You should think about reading the Geneva Conventions sometimes.

    3. Re:Animal Rights? by jandersen · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Animals do not have "rights", at least not in the sense humans do.

      Legal rights are granted by law, they don't have divine provenance. So if there are laws that protect an animal species, then that species has rights, as far as I can see.

      That aside, there is the question of whether it is wrong to kill pigeons or other animal species, no matter what the purpose, and that, I think, is a matter of taste. I don't eat much meat myself, but I can't see that it is wrong for others to do so - humans are not exclusively vegetarians, and if it is OK for lions to kill for food, then it is OK for humans, of course.

      However, it is quite common to go hunting simply for fun (like the infamous, English fox hunts); is it desirabe for society to tolerate that mentality? Not in my view. It isn't about whether it causes suffering in an animal or violates its rights, but about whether we want people around us who enjoy killing "for fun". Its a bit like enjoying chopping down trees for fun, or smashing other peoples' cars for fun. Its simply meaningless destruction, and then you also have that uncomfortable feeling that maybe such a person would enjoy killing people too.

  4. Re:If they hadn't brought their drone by JosKarith · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "law enforcement officers and an attorney claiming to represent the privately-owned plantation near Ehrhardt tried to stop the aircraft from flying.
    "It didn't work; what SHARK was doing was perfectly legal," Hindi said in a news release. "Once they knew nothing was going to stop us, the shooting stopped and the cars lined up to leave."

    TRIED. If launching the drone was against the law then do you not think that the law enforcement officers would have just arrested them as soon as they tried to launch? And shooting at something you don't like the look of because it's over your property is legal where you come from? I assume there are no civil flights, police helicopters, air ambulances, kites...

    --
    'Don't worry' said the trees when they saw the axe coming, 'The handle is one of us.'
  5. Re:If they hadn't brought their drone by Tim+C · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What are you, 12? Over here in the adult world we're responsible for our own actions. There was no need for the hunters to shoot at the drone (it wasn't a danger to them they were just pissed off), so trying to blame the inherent riskiness of the hunters' actions on the operator of the drone is facile.

  6. WTF? by Chicken_Kickers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    WTF is a "live pigeon shoot"? Is there a dead pigeon shoot? The point of hunting is to kill something,so it is absurdly redundant. Pigeons are rats with wings and I assume that the species they are hunting there is not protected or endangered, so why not kill them? From what I have seen on TV and from real life, hunters are actually the most humane people when it comes to animals. Most of them take care to not make the animal suffer.

    1. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Pigeon shoots are where they capture hundreds of live pigeons, take them to a field somewhere, then release them over a short time span and shoot the shit out of them as they fly away.

      I don't really have a problem with hunting, but just killing stuff for the sake of killing it seems really fucked up to me.

  7. Re:If they hadn't brought their drone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    On my property, I expect a right to privacy. If my property and privacy is invaded after I deny permission, then your flying camera is merely a "peeping tom tool" at this point.

    Expect your little toy to be damaged...and...don't EVEN try to equate it with a piloted commercial aircraft with human lives on board. The attempt just illustrates the weakness of your logic.

    That's just plane wrong. (pun intended)

  8. Re:If they hadn't brought their drone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And if women didn't walk around dressed like sluts, they wouldn't get raped.

    That's true, but how does this relate to the conversation?

    Analogies are almost always a bad way to discuss, but I'm more disturbed by your "that's true" statement. This is the Burka argument, women should cover up or else men won't be able to control themselves from raping them. Not trying to insult your faith if you are a conservative muslim, but so disagree with this blame the victim approach.

    It is also false to claim that you won't get raped if you cover up, look into real research and statistics on rape and you'll find that it is by far not a majority of the rape crimes that fall into this stereotype category. Most rape researches would tell you it is actually usually not driven by the sex, but the use of force, domination, humiliation, pent up anger, partly similar to other violent (and hate) crimes.

  9. Re:Shot down? by rhook · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And notice how they fail to show any pictures of the "gunshot damage".

  10. Re:NRA comments aside by penguinchris · · Score: 4, Insightful

    IANAL but I'm a photographer. You are certainly allowed to take pictures of people on private property, permission or not. Typically you'd want to do this from public space, or someplace you have a right to be standing physically (such as the street) - in which case there's nothing your subject can do about it besides closing the curtains (or whatever).

    In this case, I guess it hinges on what altitude air rights extend to. There's no legal problem taking photos of someone in private property with an airplane, but I suppose it's different if your airplane or helicopter is only a few feet off the ground and therefore essentially within the private property. But the details given suggest the helicopter was shot down over the road, which is public.

    But even if they were in the property the charge is trespassing, not taking photos without permission, and they can't force you to delete the photos (or ruin the film). You can be forced to leave the private property, of course - and I suppose there is a tradition of farmers shooting shotguns off to scare away trespassers, but I'd like to think one wouldn't get away with actually shooting someone who was merely trespassing. Or, you know, simply watching you from the street.

  11. Re:Ya well by __aarzwb9394 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    My guess is that in addition to being anti-hunting, they are also anti-gun (those two often go together)

    Hmmmmmm. From my point of view being pro-gun and pro-hunting tend to go together.

  12. Differing norms cause rape by Oxford_Comma_Lover · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Right. And if chicks didn't dress all slutty, they wouldn't get all raped, AMIRITE?

    Do you people understand rape IS NOT the woman's fault? How ignorant do you have to be to understand rape is because the rapist is a sick fuck, not because of how the woman is dressed.

    Actually, most rapes probably occur because of miscommunication. A guy was never taught that the behavior he is engaged in is rape, and maybe his support network doesn't characterize it as rape, so he doesn't realize it's rape. A girl feels violated by something like what the guy considers to be rape, that she (or her support network) consider to be rape, under the same behavior. Ask a dozen different people what happened based on the same facts, you'll get wildly divergent answers as to whether or not there was rape. The problem is that we have an idea of what "rape" is in society, and it's stranger rape, which isn't what rape really is. The problem is we have conflicting beliefs as to what behavior is okay and what behavior isn't. Labeling a rapist a sick fuck is probably usually wrong. Usually rape occurs because of miscommunication and either unclear or incorrect social norms, not because of any mental deformity. If we made rape education as big a priority as rape punishment--or perhaps bigger--we would see a bigger reduction in the amount of rape than we do from punishment.

    --
    -- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
  13. Re:If they hadn't brought their drone by BlortHorc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The rapist is like a wild animal - you have to protect yourself from it. If covering up reduces the chance or you being raped even by 1%, then you should probably cover up. After all, if you do get raped, it won't matter that the rapist will go to prison - you will still be raped (compared to theft where police may be able to recover your property).

    This is absolutely horrific thinking, if I can even dignify this drivel with such a description. There may be people at bars who may make friends with you with a view to killing you and keeping your head in the freezer, so if you do go to a bar, it is _your_ fault?

    Fuck me dead with a goose, this is such Ye Olde thinking, it disturbs me beyond words that people would even spout such shit in a day such as this.

    A rapist is "like a wild animal"? No, he is a civilised human being. In all likelihood, you know several, and have slapped them cheerfully on the back, since you are clearly clueless as regarding how duplicitous the "civilised" person can be.

  14. Read the article ... by golodh · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The original article can be found here:

    http://thetandd.com/animal-rights-group-says-drone-shot-down/article_017a720a-56ce-11e1-afc4-001871e3ce6c.html

    According to the article the drone was hovering over the U.S. 601 (a public road) when it was shot down. It was filming events on private property, but it was not out of bounds in itself .

    That ought to address both your question and the snarky remark of the parent post.

    I'm afraid this shows that those "hunters" with guns abused their privilege of toting rifles when they felt annoyed. It also illustrates the aggression these people display (as in: "they see something they don't like, so they shoot at it").

    As a consequence I believe they cannot be trusted with firearms and therefore ought to lose that privilege (i.e. their gun license).

    1. Re:Read the article ... by LWATCDR · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or they heard a shot and the crashed the drone.

      BTW they where not 'toting rifles' they where toting shotguns. Shotguns are smooth bore guns and not rifled so they can not be rifles.
      So a group was using a drone to harass people acting in a legal way on private property. Gee if the legal activity was not hunting then I bet people would be all cheering the people that supposedly took down the "drone" for protecting their rights.
      BTW radio controlled copters crash all the time. The prop damage shown looks like it was caused by a crash to me.
      Oh and flying a radio controlled aircraft over a public road is frowned on by the AMA. It could crash and hurt people so flying it over the road to start with is a good bit more dangerous than shooting bird shot into the air.

      For the record I am not into hunting and do not own a gun. I feel no need for firearm in my life, I just find the willingness to accept a drone harassing people on private property just because you do not like what they are doing to be hypocritical.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    2. Re:Read the article ... by Hydian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I have a better idea. All drones are to be registered licensed with with the FAA. Before flying a drone outside of a non-approved training facility, a certain quantity of flying hours must be logged under supervision by a licensed professional. Before a craft is purchased, a background check and 7 day hold is required. A statement of intended use shall be recorded, and depending on jurisdiction, a local judge or sheriff shall have final say over the issuance of the permit for any specific craft.

      Really? All of that just so my ten year old kid can fly his crappy $20 Air Hogs toy? What? You didn't think this through? Really? It didn't show...

  15. Battery as a response. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Generally speaking, you're not allowed to commit battery in defense of privacy alone. It would need to be trespass to justify that.
    And you're certainly not allowed to use lethal force, much less destroy another person's chattels over public property.

    1. Re:Battery as a response. by Mike+Van+Pelt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Especially if you're throwing your baseball into my yard for the specific purpose of disrupting my garden party, because you have a moral objection to garden parties.

  16. Missing the point ... by golodh · · Score: 5, Insightful
    (1) What exactly do you mean by "harrassing"? As far as I read, that drone was over a public road, not over private property. That those hunters dislike being filmed shooting birds doesn't mean they are being "harassed".

    (2),(3) As noted by previous posts, the issue of flying that drone over a public road (something I definitely don't endorse; I fully agree with you there) is an issue between the authorities and those activists. Those hunters have no part in that.

    All that they are entitled to do is report this incident to the sheriff (who was standing right next to those activists as it seems from the article) and complain of harassment and possible of endangering traffic by flying a drone over the road. After that it's up to the authorities to prosecute. Not those hunters.

    (4) Those hunters shot at something that wasn't on or over the tract of land on which they were licensed to hunt on, and it wasn't the stuff they were licensed to hunt either.

    And about the right to bear arms: that is not at issue here. People in the US do have the right to bear arms, but with that right comes responsibility. It cannot be otherwise. If you abuse your rights, then there are consequences. For example: forfeiting your rights.

    I believe that someone who is so easily goaded into turning a gun from its legitimate purpose should not be allowed to carry it.

  17. Re:This is hardly surprising by pehrs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Okay, I will bite. I hunt.

    First of all, most of the hunters are not cowards. They are ordinary people, living pretty ordinary lives. They are no more brave, nor less brave than most people. Technically, anybody who has set a rat trap in their house is a hunter.

    The matter of fairness in hunting is not an easy one. Most hunters have different takes on it. The vast majority does not consider hunting using airplanes reasonable, for example. I believe that most think wearing protective clothing against the elements is reasonable. What people consider fair also depends a lot on what and where they hunt, strangely enough. To go back to the rat trap... Do you think it's fair to the rat? Or would you prefer to kill the rat with your bare hands? Is it fair to use bait? To place the trap where the rat would usually be, or should the trap be placed somewhere else?

    To me hunting isn't some kind of primal test of the abilities of my body against the abilities of an animal. It's a matter of using what the land provides. It's a matter of removing animals that causes problems with our way of life as well as gathering meat. I have no wish to bring extra suffering to the animals I hunt just because I don't use the correct tools for the job. Of course it's not fair. All predators are unfair, or they would not survive. Still the vast majority of the animals we hunt gets away. A few are unlucky, or make a bad decision.

    Something I just can't help wonder is... Do you eat meat? Have you thought through the ethics of keeping animals confined for the single purpose of killing them and eating them? Compared to that I believe hunting is a better alternative from an ethical standpoint.

  18. harassment or protest? by bityz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Context: Personally, I fully support regulated hunting for food, don't like hunting for trophy, and don't like the use of raised birds in a pigeon shoot (which seems to be the practice under scrutiny here).

    After watching the video, I think there are two main issues - one (dealt with at length here) is about whether or not it was right and/or legal to shoot down the drone. The second one is whether or not it is right and/or legal for Hindi's group to be harassing the Broxton Bridge Plantation. His tone throughout and his words at the end of the video are clearly harassment - "we have a lot of plans for those people, that much I can guarantee."

    If the shoot is legal, then the harassment should be illegal and the goal of Hindi's group should be to change the law through non violent protest and engaging the public (potentially with video).

    If the shoot is illegal, then law enforcement should handle it. If they do not, the goal of Hindi's group should be to change the actions of law enforcement officials through non violent protest and engaging the public (potentially with video). The harassment should still be illegal.

    I think this group has confused non violent protest against immoral laws with harassment of groups doing things you don't like.

  19. Re:Youtube video. by mcgrew · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you're tromping around with weapons killing stuff, you're "expectation of privacy" is somewhat attenuated

    I have a friend who lives on fifteen acres he owns. Why should his right to privacy be negated on his own property just because he's carrying a perfectly legal tool?

    Those pheasants you just blew into pieces were probably expecting a little privacy, too.

    They' not people. AFAIK humans are the only species with the concept of "privacy".

    a pretty tolerant person, but blood sport is one of my bright red lines. It puts you in a special category. It's not that I care so much about animals, that I'm some animal hugger. I eat polish sausage, which I am told contains something that was once an animal (and judging from my digestive reaction, an animal that died of ebola).

    Most hunters eat what they kill. So you're OK with eating that pig that was raised in inhumane conditions and killed, but you're not OK with killing it yourself? There's a bit of a disconnect there, don't you think?

    Hunting is in our blood. Hundreds of thousands (maybe millions) of years of evolution is at play here.

    There's nothing whatever wrong with hunting. To be an anti-hunting omnivore smacks of hypocricy.

  20. Re:Youtube video. by randomencounter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sorry, but the adaptation didn't go away just because we moved to cities and packed our meat in plastic.

    I'd rather the people who have the hunting impulse most strongly exercise it responsibly, trying to suppress strong biological impulses completely usually results in them coming out sideways to the detriment of everyone involved.

    --
    Forget diamonds, copyright is forever.
  21. Re:If they hadn't brought their drone by forkfail · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So, does that mean I can smash up your stuff on say, a public beach?

    Also, note that the "hunters" in question were shooting birds being released from boxes. There was little of the hunt about this. Kind of like a clay pigeon shoot, but with live birds. So, while I support the second amendment, let's not pretend that these were noble hunters foraging for food for their families.

    --
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