Look, I know that pigeons can sometimes be annoying. I’m not really a fan of these feathered fellows, but geez Louise what are the head honchos of the Wimbledon tennis tournament thinking when they called for the heavy artillery on pigeons? Seems some of the pigeons were dive-bombing players on the courts and pooping on near-by tables where fans eat at the All England Club.

Officials said they’ve tried scaring the pigeons away using hawks, but that hasn’t worked.

As you can imagine, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) fallout is has begun. The decision to call in the marksmen was condemned as “cruel and illegal behavior” by PETA officials, who have complained to the tournament organizers and the police.

You gotta love this comment from the PETA blog: "Hold on to your strawberries and (vegan) cream for this one—it seems that Wimbledon has hired sharpshooters to kill pigeons. And what crime did these pigeons commit to merit capital punishment? They pooped. More specifically, they pooped on some tables in an open-air restaurant frequented by media folks who cover Wimbledon matches."

Wimbledon’s response: "The hawks are our first line of deterrent, and by and large they do the job,” Wimbledon spokesman Johnny Perkins said. "But unfortunately there were one or two areas where the hawks didn’t deter the pigeons, so it was deemed necessary to take a harder approach,” he explained.