Did this migratory birdie have to die on a Florida golf course?

Golf courses are interesting examples of peculiar human habitats that are as likely to attract wildlife as they are to kill it. The wide open green spaces, abundant greenery and water, and scattered trees must make it seem like attractive habitat to many a species, and it is not uncommon to find many birds - especially raptors and geese, and even larger mammals like coyotes trying to occupy these habitats. Yet golf courses are more likely to be ecological traps than suitable habitat because of the intensive landscape management and constant disturbance by humans, and more importantly, the often excessive use of pesticides to maintain that lush greenery.

The ever-proliferating golf courses are among the more conspicuous drivers of landscape change and habitat destruction, even as golf is often touted as an outdoor sport where one might pretend to be close to nature. Given that many wildlife species are drawn to these habitats (most often because they have lost their original habitat to the same golf course) it would seem the opportunity is ripe for some reconciliation ecology. We should be able to design at least these human-recreational habitats in ways that won't harm wildlife, right? The Audubon Society sure thinks so, and actually runs a program to turn golf courses into Cooperative Sanctuaries. They certify golf courses at various levels depending upon how eco-friendly they are, and going by the long list of courses already certified, the program shows a lot of promise, despite some worries about the actual impacts on usable habitat for wildlife.

Against this backdrop comes this bizarre story of a migratory raptor attempting to nest on a golf course actually falling to a flying golf ball whacked at its head with much persistent effort by a self-proclaimed animal-loving golfer! The poor bird in question was a Red Shouldered Hawk (pictured here) that made the initial mistake of not nesting on an Audubon certified course, and then compounded it by noisily interrupting the pro golfer Tripp Isenhour in his taping of a golf instruction video! So irritated was this pro golfer that, as the Orlando Sentinel describes it that he had to go after it with the weapons at hand until he actually beaned the bird to death with his nth golf shot!

The bird was annoying him during the taping of a golf video at the Grand Cypress course. It took 10 swings before Mr. Isenhour killed the bird. And that was after he took a bunch of other swings -- for 10 minutes -- at the bird while it was perched elsewhere.

While the golfer has been charged with killing a migratory bird and faces up to a year in jail and at least $10,000.00 in fines, the Sentinel makes a persuasive argument that that punishment is likely too light:

He now faces misdemeanor charges of cruelty to animals and killing a migratory bird. If convicted, he could face up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $10,000. But that's spare change for a man who earned $471,000 last year. And he's not likely to spend a year in jail, either. A more just punishment is to suspend him for that period of time. Isn't golf supposed to be the "gentlemen's game?" Mr. Isenhour is anything but. PGA officials say they don't comment on disciplinary actions, but this would be a good time to start. Tell people this deplorable behavior won't be tolerated. Mr. Isehhour methodically launched golf balls at a defenseless bird. Even if he's suspended, Mr. Isenhour's lucky. Unlike the bird, he gets a second chance.

There's more to the story as the Grand Cypress Golf Course itself may be culpable: apparently they failed to call back the Audubon Society when the latter had offered to relocate the bird with its nest to a safer location!! And of course, why doesn't it surprise me that this bizarre incident took place in Florida? Perhaps because I've read too much about how the weirder elements of humanity are destroying Florida's nature in Carl Hiaasen's novels, and because this act by Isenhour certainly suggests he belongs among Hiaasen's fictional rogues' gallery. I wonder (hope?) if this might inspire the next crazy bad-guy in a future Hiaasen novel - although even Hiaasen has gone back to playing this very same ruinous sport in his older age!!