hmmm.... where is that picture of my daughter and her .22 in the back yard ?..... no, better not post it as this seems to be one of those sensitive threads where group hugs and kittens are treasured.
I don't know, maybe it simply has to do with whether you grew up in the big city or out in real America. In the real America I grew up and still live in, kids shoot sparrows with BB guns and later as teens they shoot woodchucks and other varmints with .22's. PETS ARE LOVED DEARLY, but when they get deathly ill, they get put out of their misery as opposed to getting thousands of dollars spent on them to prolong their life another 6 months.
I can understand those who mourn the loss of a pet they owned and loved for years, but I truly don't get those who cry over a bird getting hit by a car or a wood chuck getting shot. It seems ludicrous to me that someone who swats a fly or mosquito can then somehow view the death of a deer, varmint, cow, fish, chicken or a sparrow as being any different (especially if that person eats meat).
I am not a hunter, as I don't like the taste of wild meat, but killing and eating a fish, shooting a varmint in the back yard, hitting an animal with my car when they fly/run out in front of me, does not bother me in the least (unless it damages my car
).
If this guy had clubbed the Hawk, then I would agree he should get in trouble for purposely killing a protected species, but I have no problem with him attempting to shoo it away. There is no way he could have had any confidence that he could have killed that bird by hitting golf balls from that distance. This was a freak shot.