Thread: Shooting Pelicans

I recently learned that certain State Employees have chosen to shoot Pelicans on the pier with paintball guns in an attempt to rid the pier of the sometimes pesky birds.
I've also been told by others that photos are not allowed while they're doing this.
Now I know these birds can be a nuisance at times. But this tactic seems cruel to me. I know others have been warned about harassing them, but this seems to be the extreme. I didn't think it was legal to harass wildlife of any kind and that should hold true for State Employees as well. Just sayin'....

as stated before i think the constant “feeding” of the birds is the problem, same as the sharks. at some point they might have it all to their own.

but technically, isn’t the targeting and hooking of fish harassment of the species whether legal or not?

just playing devil’s advocant here but the pelicans don’t die. just get a nice tattoo.

I'd be taking pictures for sure.....

Paint ball's hurt !! , In the early days of the sport safety gear was eye protection when we played.
Had some black and blue marks each time, Now bird bones particularly wings are small and can easily broken as are neck bones too . I'm not in favor of this practice, You'll end up crippling some birds ,

Who did you hear this from????
If it wasn’t a park ranger or manager, I’d call BS.

Why not install the guard things on top of the light poles to keep birds off and make them so they don't fall off. Think you could serve the same purpose with a hand held air horn or loud speaker. Them we could try M80's on the sharks to keep them away.

or just tell the 'snowbirds' they are "good eating".
Problem solved ;-)

Wow!
That is carazy that anyone would shoot any projectile at the 'dodo' birds.
Anyway they are NOT protected from "harassment", only outright killing (which I must admit I may have considered a few times ;-)

Federal Migratory Bird Act... https://www.fws.gov/le/USStatutes/MBTA.pdf

Alabama Non-Game Birds... https://www.outdooralabama.com/hunti...ma-regulations

Maybe the story claims no photos allowed so as to prevent any one calling BS and asking for photo proof.

I've probably seen thirty or forty pelicans in the water at the cleaning station and I haven't seen any evidence at all of paintballs being shot. I imagine that people have speculated that shooting them with a paintball gun could run them off. As for it actually being done - I doubt it. I try to run pelicans off from the pier railing with the water hose at the cleaning station. That's when they generally just join the others below.

But while I'm thinking about it, there's this: I SOMETIMES can't get a hook out of a whiting's throat and end up cutting the line and just putting on a new hook. It's really important, I think, to MARK those fish so that when I fillet them, I remind myself to cut the hook out so that it's not ingested by the pelicans who invariably consume the carcass. I mark the fish by cutting off part of the tail with my pliers.

It's really not a good idea to feed pelicans at all, much less just carcasses...