Golfer kills protected bird in a fury

This is an incident that could have landed this golfer in some hot soup. During a shoot, where golfer Tripp Isenhour was shooting for a television show, he got so irritated by the squawking of a red-shouldered hawk that he started trying to hit it with golf balls. The hawk was disrupting the shooting by its noise, and provoked the golfer. Unfortunately, the hawk was a protected migratory species, and hence the golfer is in some trouble now:

The 39-year-old drove his golf cart to get nearer to the bird and then allegedly said, "I'll get him now." A few shots later, witnesses said that he hit the hawk. The bird, protected as a migratory species, fell to the ground bleeding from both nostrils and was buried by the video crew at the golf course in Florida.
But federal investigators got to learn of his actions and Isenhour was charged on Wednesday with cruelty to animals and killing a migratory bird, misdemeanors which carry a maximum penalty of 14 months in jail and a $1,500 fine.

Apologizing may not get the golfer out of trouble, since technically he has committed a crime; and animal rights organizations are outraged about a person being able to kill a bird so easily and without apparent remorse.