Hopefully Golfer Will Be A Jailbird
Pro golfer Tripp Isenhour faces a fine and jail time for killing a red-shouldered hawk by shooting golf balls at it in anger because it was noisy.
The golfer claims he's an animal lover but he made repeated attempts to hit the bird from two different distances. Tripp comes off as a spoiled shithead showing off in front of the film crew working with him that day. While it is good that a member of the crew reported the incident after the fact, why didn't someone step in to stop the bully as he was actually swinging for the bird when it was still alive?
From the article...
According to documents from the investigation, the Orlando golfer was reciting lines when the federally protected red-shouldered hawk started making its "kee-aah" sound from about 300 yards away.
"It wasn't that extreme," said sound engineer Jethro Senger, who reported the incident to authorities a few days later. "Initially, it was causing us to stop rolling a few takes." That's what appeared to set Isenhour off, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports.
The golfer, who turned pro in 1990, hopped into a golf cart and drove closer to the feathered creature perched in a tree. For 10 minutes, while the crew waited, Isenhour hit several golf balls toward the bird. He eventually gave up and returned to the set.
The bird then flew closer to the crew and landed in a tall pine tree about 75 yards away. Again, the hawk began to screech.
Isenhour, who earned $471,000 last year and ranked No.152 on the PGA Tour, started hitting drives at the bird, getting closer with each swing, witnesses told investigators.
On Isenhour's 10th swing, the ball hit the bird, causing it to fall more than 30 feet to the ground. Isenhour yelled, "I didn't think I would hit it," according to reports.
When the bird fell from the tree, Senger and others ran to its aid.
"The bird was on his back, bleeding from his nostrils, his mouth was opening and closing slowly, and it was looking up at me as people ran over," Senger told wildlife officials. "I saw its eyes slowly close, and I was pretty sure that the bird had died."
A production assistant later buried the bird off the fairway, said wildlife Officer Brian Baine.
Unable to sleep and haunted by dreams of hurt animals, Senger told wildlife officials what happened. Investigators exhumed the bird, and it is being preserved in Ocala in case it's needed for trial.
The golfer claims he's an animal lover but he made repeated attempts to hit the bird from two different distances. Tripp comes off as a spoiled shithead showing off in front of the film crew working with him that day. While it is good that a member of the crew reported the incident after the fact, why didn't someone step in to stop the bully as he was actually swinging for the bird when it was still alive?
From the article...
According to documents from the investigation, the Orlando golfer was reciting lines when the federally protected red-shouldered hawk started making its "kee-aah" sound from about 300 yards away.
"It wasn't that extreme," said sound engineer Jethro Senger, who reported the incident to authorities a few days later. "Initially, it was causing us to stop rolling a few takes." That's what appeared to set Isenhour off, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports.
The golfer, who turned pro in 1990, hopped into a golf cart and drove closer to the feathered creature perched in a tree. For 10 minutes, while the crew waited, Isenhour hit several golf balls toward the bird. He eventually gave up and returned to the set.
The bird then flew closer to the crew and landed in a tall pine tree about 75 yards away. Again, the hawk began to screech.
Isenhour, who earned $471,000 last year and ranked No.152 on the PGA Tour, started hitting drives at the bird, getting closer with each swing, witnesses told investigators.
On Isenhour's 10th swing, the ball hit the bird, causing it to fall more than 30 feet to the ground. Isenhour yelled, "I didn't think I would hit it," according to reports.
When the bird fell from the tree, Senger and others ran to its aid.
"The bird was on his back, bleeding from his nostrils, his mouth was opening and closing slowly, and it was looking up at me as people ran over," Senger told wildlife officials. "I saw its eyes slowly close, and I was pretty sure that the bird had died."
A production assistant later buried the bird off the fairway, said wildlife Officer Brian Baine.
Unable to sleep and haunted by dreams of hurt animals, Senger told wildlife officials what happened. Investigators exhumed the bird, and it is being preserved in Ocala in case it's needed for trial.