An Idaho woman faces up to six months in jail after allegedly beating a hunter's falcon to death with a beaded scarf, apparently a failed attempt to rescue a duck it was attacking, the Associated Press reports.

The duck, which also died, is currently being held as evidence. From the Coeur d'Alene Press:

The incident occurred on Jan. 7 when [60-year-old Patti] MacDonald allegedly parked her red Jeep Wrangler near the spot where Scott Dinger's falcon, Hornet, was in the process of killing a duck the duo had successfully hunted. As Dinger, 50, approached the scene, he saw his falcon, clearly injured, flying away.

Dinger found Hornet dead about an hour later and said the bird had suffered a fractured skull and broken leg.

Game warden Craig Walker says he received an anonymous phone call reporting the incident in January. The caller, later identified as MacDonald, "stated that she had been very upset about the duck being injured, but felt bad about injuring someone's pet, because she 'beat the crap out of it really hard.'"

MacDonald now face charges of misdemeanor beating or harassing an animal, but some residents believe the delay in prosecution to be suspicious.

"We all know what happened to Hornet, the falcon," wrote a Hayden, Idaho man in a letter to the Coeur d'Alene Press last month. "Where are the PETA folks, or animal rights folks? Or do they just fuss up when it suits them? They are silent or do not care! Where are the Feds? Silent or absent, that's where they are."

[Image via Shutterstock]