WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A Major League Baseball pitcher is catching heat from an environmental group because of his off-season hunting of wild hogs and coyotes via helicopter.

Florida Marlins pitcher Logan Kensing hunts for animals via helicopter over a Texas ranch

Logan Kensing, a reliever for the Florida Marlins, is targeted by the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition, according to the Palm Beach Post.

"We want the Marlins to make him agree to stop," the group's co-chair, attorney Barry Silver, told the paper.

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Silver sent a strongly worded letter yesterday to team owner Jeffrey Loria.

"They have 10 days from Monday to reprimand the player for behavior that isn't one of a role model," he told the Post. "If they don't, we will be persistent. We'll infiltrate the fans and pull out signs. We'll picket. If we're willing to have 27 people arrested, it's obvious we're committed."

Logan Kensing

In a Feb. 21 interview with the Post, Kensing said he wasn't bothered by the protest: "They can come at me if they want to."

The native Texan, 25, explained hunting down the hogs is part of maintaining his family's ranch.

"We make money off our land. Those pigs destroy everything," he said. "Each litter, which happens three times a year, is gonna have 12 pigs, and 60 percent are females."

Kensing described his method.

"The pilot's pretty good. He gets right next to them. We spot them, he flies in sideways, glides and we shoot them."

He even provided video of one of his chopper excursions as he scoped for the animals.

"I thought it was pretty sick," said Dan Liftman, an aide to U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla. "That's his fun? Shooting animals from a helicopter? I think that's a little crazy."

Said Silver: "When killing becomes mechanized, it's all too easy. Scientific literature makes it clear that when someone engages in violence against animals, that person is more likely to commit violence against people."

Kensing points out he's not committing any crime, adding he and his teammates once rescued an injured baby raccoon on a Florida golf course, nursing it for four days before turning it over to a shelter.