In Los Angeles, was this a terror cell bent on genocide masquerading as a birdlover's club?

As regular blog readers know, I love falcons. So I can't help but point to this, um, bizarre story in the Los Angeles Times:

U.S. Fish and Wildlife agents infiltrated the odd subculture of "roller pigeon" clubs in Los Angeles and found that members were illegally killing hawks and falcons that prey on their birds, officials said today.

A roller pigeon, in the eyes of those who collect them, distinguishes itself in mid-flight by doing aerobatics or rolling over. Hobbyists from around the country come together to compete and judge each team's ability to work in unison.

But a roller pigeon, in the eyes of a hawk or falcon, is fast food.

Anyway, as the Times continues:

Hobbyists in Southern California became fed up by raptors spoiling their competitions and, according to a federal indictment released today, began illegally trapping and killing the predators.

Six men from Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, including the president of a national umbrella group for the hobbyists, were arrested this week on charges of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

It turns out that these roller pigeoneers were setting up traps and then shooting the predatory hawks and falcons as they tried to prey upon their pets. (If people who prize falcons are falconers, pigeon fans must be pigeoneers - as pigeoners just didn't sound right.)

I say this has to be considered genocide. Because assuming genocide is derived from the same root genre is, you can take it to mean the desire to kill a class, any class, as opposed to only a class of humans.

But was this cell's activity terrorism?

(Thanks Blubby, for pointing me to this story.)