Law enforcement should set example with bird killer
If you read the paper this morning, you probably saw the story about the horrible deaths of 186 migratory swallows living in a boat dock on Lake Hefner. Someone knocked down the nests holding the baby mud swallows, which are protected under the federal migratory bird act. They’re bodies were smashed. One tiny bird, shown here, survived.
Police say they have an idea of who did it. Good. I hope they have an idea of how important their investigation is. Whenever there’s a high-profile animal cruelty case, police and prosecutors have an obligation to do their best to punish criminals for their crimes. Animal cruelty cases aren’t always the top priority. Understandably, there are other things to deal with – murder, robbery, assault. But when the community’s eyes are focused even for a minute on an animal cruelty case, law enforcement must show that harming creatures of any species is not acceptable.
- Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll
Thank you for joining our conversation on Pet Show Blog. We encourage your discussion but ask that you stay within the bounds of our commenting and posting policy.
Comments
Oh my precious boat, what a thoughtless jerk. It’s even more aggravating that he called someone to clean the mess he made and that he was proud of what he did. I hope the bugs that these birds eat destroy his boat.
Hopefully this pathetic,unitelligent individual will be punished as severely as the law will allow. Don’t bet on it though. More than likely he will be treated lightly, if he is prosecuted at all. Here is a good example of the type of person who places material possessions above the world around them that gives them life. This type of mentality is why the world is in such pathetic shape and all of our natural resources are being destroyed.
In addition to criminal prosecution the city should revoke this man’s marina slip lease. If he treats innocent birds this way, I don’t want this maniac on the lake when I”m boating Hefner. There is no telling what he will do if someone gets in his way.
If he’s related to Kirk Humphries you can bet he will get off scott free. Its like a guy walks into Will Rogers Airport with a 3 pound black powder bomb and because he is a good friend of Humphries, he gets off.
I hope the paper keeps on this and does something to put a great deal of pressure on law enforcement to not only have this person arrested, but to also make sure the highest and most strict penalties are applied. This person obviously has some form of severe mental disability and must be both punished and treated for his own good and more importantly, the good of everyone else and everything around him.
This is just horrible!! I pray this person gets caught and is made liable for what they did. Besides being prosecuted, this person obviously needs some “mental” help. They don’t need to be walking around “free’!!
And we definately need to improve on our animal cruelty laws for ALL animals!!
I totally agree. The fact that the person called someone to clean it up and seemed proud of what he had done infuriates me. They really need to teach this person a lesson.
I can assure you that Law Enforcement HAS taken this case seriously. In fact, it was the local police that initiated the investigation, and the State and Federal Wildlife agencies are equally enraged by the killing of the birds.
I am shocked, appalled and disgusted that a fellow boater would have such disregard for the lives of the beautiful birds. I also have a boat in the water at lake Hefner and the mud nests that these birds make do create a mess. But so what. A broom and a hose and everythings good. There are a couple of these nests near our boat and we love to watch the adults fly in and out and we listen for any tiny little chirps. I hope that the proper authorities do everything to this person that they can. I also agree with Mike that I want to see his slip occupancy revoked. I don’t want people like that at our marina.
The number of mosquito’s that 186 Swallows would eat in a day is nearly inconceivable… it would be poetic for this moron to contract West Nile or some other mosquito transmitted disease.
My only fear is that this story is going to fade back into the wood work considering our attention span is so short for news stories. People let’s not let this happen. Let’s all try our hardest to make this a national story and make sure that this man gets exactly what he deserves
[...] only swallow that survived an attack has died. Read an update or watch this video from yesterday. Join the conversation about what should happen to the [...]
This is what we have come to expect from Okies. Acts of cruelty like this, along with all the cheating and swindling of their fellow Okies, tells us that they don’t care about anyone or anything but themselves.
A Baptist Deacon attacked a UT fan in a bar, Gene Stipe, McMahan……need we say more?
[...] to the U.S. Attorney’s office. Here’s hoping that U.S. Attorney John Richter recognizes animal cruelty when he sees [...]
I agree that this person should be punished for killing this poor innocent baby birds, he should be arrested and fined the $84,000 ($500 per bird).