Steve Hindi, president of SHARK (SHowing Animals Respect and
Kindness), said his group was preparing to launch its Mikrokopter
drone to video what he called a live pigeon shoot on Sunday when
law enforcement officers and an attorney claiming to represent the
privately-owned plantation near Ehrhardt tried to stop the aircraft
from flying.
"It didn't work; what SHARK was doing was perfectly legal,"
Hindi said in a news release. "Once they knew nothing was going to
stop us, the shooting stopped and the cars lined up to leave."
He said the animal rights group decided to send the drone up
anyway.
"Seconds after it hit the air, numerous shots rang out," Hindi
said in the release. "As an act of revenge for us shutting down the
pigeon slaughter, they had shot down our copter."
He claimed the shooters were "in tree cover" and "fled the scene
on small motorized vehicles."
"It is important to note how dangerous this was, as they were
shooting toward and into a well-travelled highway," Hindi stated in
the release. He said someone from SHARK called the Colleton County
Sheriff's Department, which took a report of the incident.
The Colleton County Sheriff's Department filed a malicious
damage to property incident report.
According to the report, Hindi told the responding deputy the
group's remote-controlled aircraft "was hovering over U.S. 601 when
he heard a shot come from the wood line. The shot sounded to him
that it was of small caliber."
The incident report went on to state that "once shot, the
helicopter lost lift and crash landed on the roadway of U.S.
601."
The deputy noted in the report that he was unable to speak to
anyone at Broxton Bridge Plantation following the incident.
Hindi estimated damage to the drone at around $200 to $300.
Hindi said he will seek charges against those who shot down the
drone.
"This was SHARK's first encounter with the Broxton Bridge
Plantation, but it will certainly not be the last," Hindi said in
the release. "We are already making plans for a considerably
upscaled action in 2013."
