From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2007:
PORTLAND, Oregon–Portland U.S. District
Judge Ancer Haggerty on October 11, 2007
sentenced pigeon flyers Peter Kaufman and Ivan
Hanchett to each pay a $2,000 fine plus $2,000
more to the Endangered Species Justice Fund at
the Oregon Zoo, for illegally killing an unknown
number of birds of prey.
Kaufman and Hanchett were also barred
from any involvement with the roller pigeon
fancy, hunting, and fishing during a year on
probation, during which they must each do 120
hours of community service.
The sentences were far lighter than the
fines of $10,000 apiece sought by the
prosecution, and less even than the $7,500 fine
proposed by one of the defense attornies,
objected Audubon Society of Portland conservation
director Bob Salinger. Salinger, Portland mayor
Tom Potter, and Portland Metro Council president
David Bragdon had all called for the stiffest
possible penalties.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2007:

WASHINGTON, D.C.–HR 767, possibly the
most sweeping feral animal extermination mandate
ever put before Congress, unanimously cleared
the U.S. House of Representatives on October 23,
2007, completely eluding any visible notice from
national humane organizations.
No national humane organization issued a
legislative alert about HR 767. No national
humane organization even mentioned it in online
lists of animal-related bills under
consideration–not even Alley Cat Allies, whose
concerns are most directly targeted.
Introduced by Representative Ron Kind
(D-Wisconsin), HR 767 is officially titled the
Refuge Ecology Protection, Assistance, and
Immediate Response Act, or REPAIR Act.
Informally, it is called the Kind Act, but the
closest approach to kind language in it is a
passage requiring that funded extermination
programs must minimize “adverse impacts to the
structure and function of national wildlife
refuge ecosystems and adverse effects on
nontarget species.”
No restrictions are placed on the species
that may be targeted or the methods that may be
used to kill them.
An October 22 press release from Kind’s
office promoting HR 767 mentioned only purple
loosestrife, black locust, and zebra mussels as
examples of invasive species, but the bill
appears to have originated chiefly out of birder
antipathy toward feral cats.
“In response to the exploding threat that
invasive species pose to the health and abundance
of many birds,” said publicist Steve Holmer of
the American Bird Conservancy, an organization
built on fierce opposition to neuter/return feral
cat control, “Kind championed legislation which
provides grants to states to identify harmful
non-native species and establish priorities for
preserving native birds, fish, other wildlife,
and their habitats. The REPAIR Act now moves to
the Senate, where ABC hopes to see quick
passage.”
A native of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, Kind
still has one of his two constituency offices in
LaCrosse–the same city where birder Mark Smith
in 2005 organized a campaign to authorize hunters
to shoot feral cats.

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