I've shot chickens from 12 feet away with bird shot and they didn't even notice. They were gamecocks but still. They were getting into my tomatoes and my neighbor, who owned them, told me to shoot them if I saw them there. I did for all the good it did me.

I also shot a rabid fox, that was at my front door, with bird shot 3 times and it didn't notice either.

Bird shot is for birds and it isn't always effective against them. It works on squirrels too but who wants to eat a squirrel filled with bird shot.

I've owned a shotgun pretty much all my life. We had a trap range in our back yard when I was a kid and people came from hundreds of miles away to shoot there. Trap ranges were rare in those days where I lived. I know what shotguns will and won't do. If you want to stop a human use something besides bird shot. If you shoot someone point blank chances are they will be hurt badly. But bird shot patterns expand quickly. You don't get the kind of damage you might expect if your target isn't close.