Yes, really. Two New South Wales police officers in plain clothes gunned the black-and-white menace out of a palm tree in East Lismore after it caused the 70-year-old woman to fall down and hurt her knee.
The magpie in question had allegedly been accosting people as they came and went from the Whyalla Rd Shopping Centre – and Richmond Police District Inspector David Vandergriend says it’s not uncommon for officers to “destroy magpies that are putting members of the public at risk.”
“Our specialised police, highly trained tactical police, are called regularly at this time of year,” he told the Northern Star.
“We don’t just rock up and think ‘there’s a swooping bird, we’ll shoot it.”
But onlookers were left shocked by the incident which they say came without any warning. “I don’t think they should ever go about anything in that fashion,” one witness told the Courier-Mail.
According to VICE, it is against the law to kill the birds or harm their chicks under NSW law – but the NSW Police handbook has a whole section devoted to ‘Magpie Destruction’ (is this in the ‘Annihilating our Native Wildlife’ section’?) which states that officers are authorised to use a shotgun to take out any troublesome birds.
Perhaps the officers should remind themselves: “with great power comes great responsibility” – and a duty to let people know when you’re about to get trigger-happy.
