Thu, Feb 23, 2012
SHARK Vows To Press Charges After Disrupting Pigeon Shoot
This may be a new wrinkle in the debate over domestic drone
surveillance and privacy. A Mikrokopter drone being flown by an
animal rights group to document a live pigeon shoot in South
Carolina was reportedly shot down by angry gun enthusiasts after
their event was called off Sunday. The UAV owner has filed a police
report, and vows to press charges.
The Times and Democrat quotes Steve Hindi, president of SHARK
(short for Showing Animals Respect and Kindness) in reporting that
the live pigeon shoot was to have taken place at Broxton Bridge
Plantation Sunday near Ehrhardt, SC. Hindi says law enforcement
officials and an attorney claiming to represent the plantation
attempted to stop SHARK from flying its small drone, which is
equipped with a video camera.
Hindi tells the paper, "It didn't work; what SHARK was doing was
perfectly legal. Once they knew nothing was going to stop us, the
shooting stopped and the cars lined up to leave." He says the drone
was launched anyway. "Seconds after it hit the air, numerous shots
rang out. As an act of revenge for us shutting down the pigeon
slaughter, they had shot down our copter.
"It is important to note how dangerous this was, as they were
shooting toward and into a well-traveled highway." The small
aircraft reportedly came down on US Highway 601.
Hindi adds, "This was SHARK's first encounter with the Broxton
Bridge Plantation, but it will certainly not be the last. We are
already making plans for a considerably upscaled action in
2013."
Until now, much of the debate over the use of unmanned aircraft
for domestic surveillance has been driven by concerns over
potential abuse by government civilian agencies, including law
enforcement. In this case, a UAV is being used by an activist group
to expose often legal but potentially embarrassing activities by
hunters, rodeo promoters and even participants in
government-sponsored wildlife population control efforts.
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