Horror as cops shoot magpie

POLICE in northern NSW have defended their actions after shooting dead a swooping magpie outside a shopping centre.

Paramedics were called to a street in East Lismore about 11.20am on Tuesday after a 70year-old woman was struck by a magpie and fell over, injuring her knee.

About an hour later, two officers dressed in shorts and Tshirts and carrying guns appeared in the nearby Wyrallah Rd Shopping Centre carpark and shot the magpie out of a palm tree.

Witness Russell Brown said the magpie had been swooping people in that area “for years”, but its shooting had left witnesses shaken.

“Something should have been done to warn the people what was about to happen,” he said. “Everybody that I saw looked rattled, they just looked upset.”

Richmond Police District Inspector David Vandergriend said police had warned onlookers what was about to happen before shooting the bird.

He said police were often asked by the National Parks and Wildlife Service to destroy birds and that police were yesterday called to a similar job at Casino. “We don’t just rock up and think ‘there’s a swooping bird, we’ll shoot it,” he said.