Yesterday, PGA Tour Player, Tripp Isenhour was charged with animal cruelty and killing a migratory species when he killed a hawk with a golf shot. He was filming a segment called "Shoot Like A Pro," and the bird was making noises causing him to have to re-shoot parts of the video.
He claims he was just trying to scare the bird away, but prosecutors believe it was intentional. He claims that he's an animal lover, has adopted three cats from shelters, and was horrified when he hit the bird. At least one member of the crew thought he was behaving irresponsibly:
"He just kept saying how he didn't think he could have hit it, which I think is a stupid thing for a PGA Tour golfer to say," said Jethro Senger, a sound engineer at the shoot. "He can put a ball in a hole from hundreds of yards away, and here he is hitting line drives at something that's, I don't know, a couple hundred feet away?"Senger says there was no video of the hawk killing. So because blog readers demand video, above is a very short YouTube of the infamous Randy Johnson exploding bird pitch. An unintentional killing, of course.
Sorry, No Photos














Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-10-2008 @ 3:44PM
Pete Conway said...
By all eyewitness accounts broadcast in the news this man was deliberately trying to kill this hawk and now that he was successful in perpetrating this illegal cruelty and has been been caught, he's putting out damage control, no doubt replaying the Michael Vick case in his head. In memory of the dead hawk I hope some American Indians conjure up a mighty curse to damn the animal killer, or at least let's get out on the golf course and heckle the snot out of this guy whenever he's in the middle of his swing.
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3-07-2008 @ 8:20AM
jazmin235 said...
Yes we are the dominant species only because we are the smartest & meanest. Does that make us the best or superior no. We use our domination to exploit & abuse animals every day & this smug bastard Tripp Isenhour should not get away with cruelty to a protected species. He tried to aim for the bird 6 times before he killed it. Then what's he say "I'll get him" right before he finally hit the hawk. And he thought it was a cute fun game until he was reported. And over what a damn golf show. Pasture pool has to be the most boring sleep inducing sports show ever televised. This pasty looking yuppie snob needs his white collar ass kicked.
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3-07-2008 @ 8:20AM
fish said...
He tried to hit that hawk more than 10 times, so it wasn't unintentional. What a jerk. Lets put him up in a tree and have pro golfers (who take pride in being able to hit a small hole from 100 yards away)hit balls at him and see if he squawks. That is right up until they unintentionally hit him and kill him too. He meant to do it.
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3-07-2008 @ 9:10AM
Georgia said...
He asks that he and his family's privacy be respected.......well, to hell with that. He had no respect for this animal. The fact is that we as a people are rapidly encroaching on THEIR space and WE need to show some respect. It is obvious that he purposely went after that bird. There should be sanctions against him and I hope they are serious enough to teach a lesson to all. Saving three cats does not "cancel out" killing another animal.
Georgia Williams
New Mexico
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3-07-2008 @ 12:14PM
JWOpsychologist said...
Surprising that a public figure is ignorant enough to kill a beautiful hawk, especially considering all the opposition against Michael Sick (oops, I mean Vick). While this may not compare to Sick's barbarity in scope, the disregard for nonhuman animals is the same. And of course we're all wondering, "If he does this in front of a camera crew, what does he do in the privacy of his own home?" God only knows.
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3-07-2008 @ 11:54AM
chacha said...
This is sickening. He absolutely killed this bird on purpose and to beg forgiveness now is insulting - to the bird and the public.
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3-09-2008 @ 6:35PM
nan mcclain said...
Isenhour,you are an embarrassment to the PGA and to the human race. That hawk was a raptor and all raptors are federally protected> I hope you meet Michael Vick in prison. Y'all can brag about how tough you guys are, after all you can kill helpless animals. I am sure your family is very proud.
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3-07-2008 @ 11:15PM
andrew summers said...
A) the prick should get the maximum fine.
B) the prick should get the maximum prison sentence.
C) the prick should put his clubs away and NEVER be allowed to play golf at any level ever again.
.....like someone else above posted..."the smug bastard".........
He's lucky he didn't get a club across his pompous face!
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3-08-2008 @ 5:53PM
Dignity said...
Isenhour earned the better part of $500,000 as a golfer last year through the efforts of his agent. Isenhour is a sadist. This is the act of a cruel, evil person. If you want to let him know how you feel, his agent's e-mail is: johnmascetello@sfxworld.com. Classify his action accurately. This is indefensible.
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3-09-2008 @ 1:38PM
R B said...
Countless people are now poised to boycott anything and everything that has to do with the PGA over this Isenhour matter. They are also organizing boycotts of PGA related sponsors as well as Isenhour’s endorsement sources and sponsors. My question to you is, if the PGA is not willing to drop him or ban him, then how willing are you to face the backlash for not doing so? Animal rights organizations around the world are hotter than the surface of the sun about this and pure Hell is on the way. Protests are already being organized in Isenhour’s hometown in North Carolina, Orlando, Florida and other cities across the country. In addition, protests are being organized related to the PGA and sites for their events.
If the PGA is not willing to banish him, the question on the lips of tens of thousands of people is: Will your excuse for not banishing him from the PGA be as limp, empty and wholly dishonest as his excuse for killing the bird? Most of us are not sure which is worse, the fact that Isenhour did such a mean spirited, unwarranted deed or that he tried to lie to the world about it with his childlike excuse and explanation. Clearly, he was not simply trying to scare the hawk away and witnesses there have attested to that. Virtually everything that Isenhour has said in his “apology” is inconsistent with the facts gathered by investigators that led to the charges being brought.
Anyone calling himself a MAN to be so neuron challenged that they would actually do such a vile act in front of onlookers while video cameras rolled is almost hard to believe. One can only sense this act was borne out of ego, audacity, pomposity and an overall distorted and highly inflated view of his own importance.
He fired drive after drive at this defenseless bird, ten shots in all, knowing full well that any one of the drives could have hit the bird instead of merely scaring it away. Certainly if it had been a human being or even a cocker spaniel instead of a hawk he would not have been driving golf balls at it. He made a conscious decision that the welfare of this bird was not on the same level as himself or other human beings or literally even a cocker spaniel.
A hawk died because it annoyed Mr. Isenhour by doing what it naturally does as a creature of the wild; in kind, Mr. Isenhour brought about the bird’s death by an act that represents what he evidently does “naturally” as well. The obvious fact is that he did not care whether he hit the bird or not. If he had cared, he wouldn't have been driving golf balls at it with the distinct possibility of hitting and injuring or killing the bird. This is indisputable. His attempts to lie about this are ridiculous.
Mr. Isenhour’s attorney needs to do the right thing and tell Isenhour to shut his mouth for now, be man enough to tell the truth when he gets to court and to take his punishment like a man instead of spewing these ridiculous excuses and explanations. Evidently Isenhour is egotistical enough to already think he can pass this crap past a judge and get away with what he’s done. Are any judges that stupid?
Another part of Isenhour’s comments about his “defense” in the media has been to say that he was not the only person trying to scare the hawk away and that others were trying to do so as well. Hello? Isenhour was the only person shooting 200mph line drives at the bird! Anything that anyone else was doing was harmless and would not have brought injury or death to the animal.
Predictably, there are those who have made the comment that “there are other more important issues in the world” that deserve the attention more so than this story. Blah blah blah - even some of isenhour's fellow golfers are saying this. BUT, the fact is that the "other" important issues ARE getting attention- always do- always have. DO NOT BE DECIEVED! The people saying that this event is unnecessarily being made a big deal of is and/or has been over prioritized are in reality just expressing their own opinion that they don't think Isenhour’s killing of this bird was such a big deal either. Such comments made by these people only reveal their own character flaws and show the world that they are as cold hearted and mean spirited as Isenhour is.
In reality, what the bird did by disturbing the taping of the show was an ACCIDENT, but what Isenhour did was clearly intentional.
The American public as a whole knows the difference between what can be considered an accident and what is not. If a hawk flies into your windshield while you’re driving down the road- that’s an accident. Steering your car toward a hawk in an attempt to scare it off the road but resulting in running over the hawk is NOT an accident- it something that happened as a result of a conscious decision.
The “accident versus not an accident” argument is made all the time in drunk driving cases. The scenario: A man goes into a bar, has a few too many, gets in his car to drive home. His intention is to get home NOT to get into an accident. But when he does indeed get into a car crash it is NOT an accident because he made a conscious decision to drink in the first place.
Furthermore, this event happened several weeks ago and he is only offering an apology now after charges have been brought against him-- another indisputable sign that he is not at all sincere. He is NOT sorry about what he has done he is only sorry he got caught. In addition to senselessly claiming the life of an innocent animal he has attempted to play the world for fools by expecting us to swallow his hogwash of an explanation. Isenhour noted in his desperate statement that he is an “animal lover” and cited the fact that his family has adopted three cats from an animal shelter. One can only wonder about the poor investigation conducted by the animal shelter that allowed someone with Isenhour’s factual disregard for animals to ever adopt those cats in the first place.
Reader polls consistently condemn him for this act, but even if the majority of people could sweep the incident itself aside, his nefarious “apology” and/or explanation cannot be interpreted as anything other than an obvious view into his overall flawed character as a man. In the most literal sense, Mr. Isenhour isn’t even man enough to tell the truth about what he did.
His version of the incident as conveyed in his stated “apology” and explanation is no more than an attempt to insult the intelligence of virtually everyone that hears it or reads it. Certainly his legal representation merits questioning in terms of competency for if Isenhour’s excuse is the best he can come up with he would have been further ahead not to say anything at all.
His actions speak as loud as his words and they both say the same thing: He is an inherently dishonest man and therefore it is a disservice to allow him to continue to be a part of the PGA. In addition to being guilty of this unthinkable act, he has also proven that he is a dishonest man and he is without honor. There is no doubt that his continued association with the PGA will cost the PGA far more than anything he could possibly bring to the PGA on the plus side.
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3-09-2008 @ 9:06PM
ron sandler said...
can we hit golf balls at him!
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3-11-2008 @ 6:46PM
tripdefame said...
Tripp was asked what a redtailed hawk tastes like and the response was, something like a california condor but with the tenderness of a spotted owl, but in the end you can't beat a bald eagle under glass.
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3-12-2008 @ 2:47PM
eshack said...
If we hit golf balls at his house, do ya think he'll
"make noises"? If someone bounced something off
him and he bled from the nose,ya think it might
sink in to him? What an *##HOLE!!
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3-14-2008 @ 2:05PM
tripdefame said...
the red tailed hawk, made his call, the Drip then struck a ball, the hawk went into a full tail spin, the Drip bragged "I win", no one cared enough to stop him, after all it was just a whim, casual disregard of nature's loss, but the Drip proved he was the boss, a nest out there goes unattended, why hasn't the Drip been apprehended, the red tailed hawk will parent no more, the Drip proclaims he has evened the score, shed a tear or vent your rage, the callous Drip wants to turn the page, and if something else gets in his way, the Drip will respond with "make my day", life goes on, forget about it,who really gives a _hit, but remember this, the Drip grinned with bliss, the ball flew nice, I've cured my slice
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