Extremely unethical behavior by one of our own

This behavior goes so far beyond the ethics codes of any wildlife photography or birding association that I felt it necessary to point out here. It's by a POTN member who I've interacted with both on the forum and have met in person. A concerned birder who was at the scene documented it and it has been extensively discussed today by MN and WI birders and photographers, details of which can be seen on the Minnesota Birding and Wisconsin Birding Facebook pages.

I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but having seen the videos and photos, and also seen evidence of his willfully ignorant and unapologetic response to people's concerns, I can't stay silent about this. As someone who volunteers with raptor rehab, I have pretty strong feelings already about baiting, but even people who are OK with baiting should be outraged by this. It shows a complete disregard for the well-being of this bird. If you want to know specifically who it is, you can check the above-mentioned Facebook pages, or message me privately. The person was handing out business cards at the scene, so there is no doubt about who it is.

http://youtu.be/p8MNvJ​e0oN0
http://youtu.be/NBvr4z​OE-gQ

http://farm9.staticfli​ckr.com …16797349_2a4f98​5d0d_o.jpg
http://farm9.staticfli​ckr.com …16797375_c849de​1c5e_o.jpg
http://farm9.staticfli​ckr.com …16797519_1b450c​5604_o.jpg
http://farm9.staticfli​ckr.com …16797485_2da90b​1b71_o.jpg

There is another thread about this and as I have stated in that one. I am not against feeding wild life but that is disgusting

Oh please........ The fellow taking this video was right there next to what was going on enjoying what he was witnessing and his shutter sure wasn't silent, I didn't hear any complaints from not a single person and this bird was not harmed or abused in any way. So all you bird purists better take down your feeders if you have them if your going to be so opinionated about what people do or don't do when it comes to baiting or feeding of wild birds.

Not cool. Having a bird feeder in your yard,and a mouse on your boot is totally different.They ventured into the Owl's realm, who gave them LOADS of room to get their photos and sh*ts and giggles.
Its the mentality that bothers me, they are not serious about respecting the bird , it was all about them.

andrewhuxman wrote in post #15665096
Oh please........ The fellow taking this video was right there next to what was going on enjoying what he was witnessing and his shutter sure wasn't silent, I didn't hear any complaints from not a single person and this bird was not harmed or abused in any way. So all you bird purists better take down your feeders if you have them if your going to be so opinionated about what people do or don't do when it comes to baiting or feeding of wild birds.

Really? It doesn't take a 'bird purist' to know that baiting the owl to the middle of the street and trying to get it to eat off your boot is irresponsible. That's the nicest word I could think of to describe what you did.

I'm not a purist and I usually don't have problem with baiting as long as it's done responsibly, but what's shown in the photo is irresponsible...boot on the foot or trying to get the GG to beg for the mouse as seen in the video. I agree with FreetoFly that it doesn't take a "bird purist" to know that!

"Baiting" is one thing; the behavior shown in that video is teasing, though, and the bird is clearly stressed and just trying to get the food.

I also am not a purist and as stated I have no arguments on feeding them as long as the subject doe's not assosiate humans=food. Had you put the food in a field and then gone to a hide..no problems.
In this case you have directly given it food and it could start flying to people passing by looking for food. A few complaints and it will be shot

I sure am getting a kick out of all this. A 30 second video tells the whole story of an 8 hour day ,unless you were there you do not know what transpired all there is the post hype and opinions and you what they say about opinions. And for the record that bird flew on to that road with out any bait /mouse on the roadway ask anyone that was there. As a matter of fact check out this,this was posted on Febuary 26th 2013:

http://birdnews.aba.or​g …35&MLID=WI&MLNM​=Wisconsin

and make sure you click on the pbase link. ...... I guess that was unethical too. Also talked to a farmer up and he said it flew right on the tailgate of his pickup ..I guess that was unethical too.

andrewhuxman wrote in post #15665315
I sure am getting a kick out of all this. A 30 second video tells the whole story of an 8 hour day ,unless you were there you do not know what transpired all there is the post hype and opinions and you what they say about opinions. And for the record that bird flew on to that road with out any bait /mouse on the roadway ask anyone that was there. As a matter of fact check out this,this was posted on Febuary 26th 2013:

http://birdnews.aba.or​g …35&MLID=WI&MLNM​=Wisconsin

and make sure you click on the pbase link. ...... I guess that was unethical too. Also talked to a farmer up and he said it flew right on the tailgate of his pickup ..I guess that was unethical too.

Being deliberately obtuse? What part of anything you posted excuses baiting the owl with a mouse on your boot and teasing it in an attempt to try to get it to beg?

So if the bird was already very close and active without bait, then what was the need to further bait and taunt it? It's not a matter of opinion or being a purist, this behavior goes against the ethical guidelines of any wildlife photography or birding organization. Thirty seconds is plenty of time to see that.

That owl has still has to try and survive in the wild after you leave it. And you lessen its chances of being able to. Those of us on the rehab side of it have to deal with the consequences all the time.

But the thing is Andrew, you did what we saw. Deflecting the owls actions against your own is ridiculous. 8 hours, but what was posted was this..strange.

Very strange indeed .......

No, Andrew. The behavior being objected to (or that *I* have an objection to, anyway) is holding out food/bait and yanking it way from the animal when it attempts to get said food and keeping the food just out of reach. There may be other, more overarching objections to the whole situation; but there doesn't need to be a record of the whole day for me to see the behavior there that bothers me.

If the animal lands, on its own, on the car, in the road, on a sign or even on someone's person, I don't find that alone to be objectionable. But, "Wanna lick?...PSYCH!" actions are bothersome whether they're being done to animals or other people.

There's baiting and then there is baiting. The photographer is actually teasing the bird to get his shots! This is appalling.