Illegal Hunters Shoot Down Animal Rights Helicopter
A remote-controlled aircraft owned by an animal rights group was reportedly shot down near Broxton Bridge Plantation Sunday near Ehrhardt, S.C.
Steve Hindi, president of SHARK (Showing Animals Respect and Kindness), 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.
“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.”
He said the animal rights group decided to send the drone up anyway.
“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.”
He claimed the shooters were “in tree cover” and “fled the scene on small motorized vehicles.”
“It is important to note how dangerous this was, as they were shooting toward and into a well-traveled highway,” Hindi stated in the release. He said someone from SHARK called the Colleton County Sheriff’s Department, which took a report of the incident.
The Colleton County Sheriff’s Department filed a malicious damage to property incident report.
According to the report, Hindi told the responding deputy the group’s remote-controlled aircraft “was hovering over U.S. 601 when he heard a shot come from the wood line. The shot sounded to him that it was of small caliber.”
The incident report went on to state that “once shot, the helicopter lost lift and crash landed on the roadway of U.S. 601.”
The deputy noted in the report that he was unable to speak to anyone at Broxton Bridge Plantation following the incident.
Hindi estimated damage to the drone at around $200 to $300.
Hindi said he will seek charges against those who shot down the drone.
“This was SHARK’s first encounter with the Broxton Bridge Plantation, but it will certainly not be the last,” Hindi said in the release. “We are already making plans for a considerably upscaled action in 2013.”
I doubt the pigeon shoot was illegal.
Was this RC helicopter flying over private property? But either way it was used in a harassing manner and it is good to hear it was shot down.
Good Sunday Morning to all the Mad Mike friends and contributors.
I know the VERY FIRST PLACE Mad Mike goes every morning to get all his animal protection and environmental news is Andrew Breitbart’s website.
OK, I’m just kidding, BUT, if you can hold your collective noses long enough, Breitbart’s story about GOLDEN EAGLES being killed in large numbers on Wind Farms is worth a look. GOLDEN EAGLES KILLED BY ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY WINDMILLS
Thanks Bob. Headed there now.
Sigh,
Why am I not surprised at the anal retentive responses? Go hop over a dying homeless person and rescue that friggin dog wandering down the street….yeah, quick, grab it!! the one with all the FOAM ’round it’s hungry little maw.
And you’re not an animal hater? You’re the troll dimwit. Can’t you Righties carry on a decent, civil conversation without calling names and spitting vitriol? Free pigeons? Foam around its hungry little maw? WTF? Republicans!
@Z,
No, actually the coolest part is watching a little troll like you go to the park with some bird seed, throw a handful down and get pecked to bits by all the “free” pigeons!! Now THAT’S freedom. Give ’til it hurts, stain.
There is, (in my opinion), something intrinsically evil/warped about a society that allows 45,000, (reuters), fellow citizens of the Fascist States of America to die EACH year from lack of healthcare,(it ain’t the best but anything’s better than nothing), spending money on technology to catch people shooting freeking pigeons or running ads for the USPCA trying to bleed you for a monthly pint to aid ANIMALS!
Am I an animal hater? sorry, no I’m not. I give what I can WHEN I can to organizations trying to help HUMANS here in the Fascist States of America or countries abroad that have been victimized by same.
However, that being said, a culture so warped as to spend resources on animals rather than humans may well explain WHY this nation is in the mess it’s in. I wonder what percentile of each dollar goes to help the animals and how much is funneled off by the HEAD animals in corporate salaries?
The helicopter was not paid for by the government. You make some good points, but in the end, if private citizens want to build a helicopter and try and expose canned hunting, more power to them.
And the coolest part? In these FREE United States you can spend your money exactly the way you want to! Isn’t that great! But, you have to accept that other people may choose to spend their money the way they want to!
Cooler than that? You get to come to this website and bitch about how other people spend their money! Life just doesn’t get much better than that, does it?
Oh, and if you care to check you can see exactly how much the leaders of any charity make. Just go to CharityNavigator. Even more FREEDOM!
I think perhaps you missed that the animal rights group was privately funded. No tax payer dollars went to support it, and that’s the case with almost all of them, including the ASPCA, and etc. The few organizations that are funded are those in specific jurisdictions that provide shelter and set up adoption programs, as well as being responsible for euthanizing them.
This may hurt my liberal street cred but this did make me giggle.