In September 2017 Heidi Prescott, Senior Vice President of Campaigns for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) released a statement in which she claimed the following about live pigeon shoots:

We have stopped shoots in California, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas -- and most recently secured an attorney general's opinion in Maryland that will prevent live pigeon shoots from occurring there.

There are a number of problems with this statement. First, the pigeon shoots in North Carolina had not stopped. In January we learned that the shoots in she referenced in Maryland had also not stopped.

I sent an email to then HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle, asking for HSUS records on the pigeon shoots referenced by Ms. Prescott for California, Ohio, Texas and anywhere else, that SHARK might be able to verify that the shoots were indeed stopped. If they were not stopped, we would move to make them stop.

Mr. Pacelle first ignored my request. After receiving additional outside pressure, Mr. Pacelle outright refused to turn over the information. I pushed again, but then Mr. Pacelle was ousted from HSUS for unrelated issues.

Shortly after interim CEO Kitty Block was installed, I redirected my request for pigeon shoot information to her. Like Mr. Pacelle, Ms. Block initially ignored my request. After pushing again, Ms. Block sent the following February 17, 2018 email:

I had hoped you could appreciate that I've been acting CEO and President of HSUS for just two weeks. I"m also running HSI,  My first priority is to ensure that staff feel supported and confident during this transition and that our programs and campaigns to help animals remains as strong as ever. 

I will respond to you more fully when i have the time.

I would have expected a little understanding. 

In the interim - if you feel the need to demand action now please do whatever you like. 

I appreciate your patience and understanding. 

sincerely 

Kitty 

I gave Ms. Block the time she requested, two months in fact. Now it is time for Ms. Block to step up, and again she, like her predecessor, is refusing to respond.

Why is SHARK pushing so hard to get the information HSUS is hoarding about those shoots? First, because HSUS has made false claims about ending shoots in North Carolina and Maryland. Beyond that, in just the past six months, SHARK has achieved more success in stopping pigeon shoots than the rest of the movement combined in all the decades that preceded.

In PA, we’ve hit the pigeon shooters so hard that they’re running scared. The killers aren’t announcing shoot dates or locations in fear that we will show up - and we would - and we’re looking.

We would have better luck finding those pigeon shoots if personnel from HSUS and its allies in the Federated Humane Societies of Pennsylvania (FHSP) would assist, but they won’t lift a finger to help. This certainly calls into question Heidi Prescott’s claim made in a January 14, 2018 email which states:

The commitment of The HSUS and The Fund for Animals to eradicate live pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania is unfaltering. It is a cause that has been at the forefront of the thinking of a number of our leaders for the past quarter century, and it’s a piece of unfinished business that we will complete.

Ms. Prescott’s statement is nonsense. The effort of HSUS and FHSP combined aren’t unfaltering - it’s nonexistent, and making bold statements of what you’re going to do are, at best, empty. It is the tiny SHARK team, and its tiny budget, that have succeeded because we’re on the ground, not sitting in offices or attending galas.

Last year we shut down Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe’s live pigeon shoot fundraiser after a 3-year campaign. We asked for HSUS’s help in that campaign, and they wouldn’t even respond.

In January, we exposed a live pigeon shoot in Maryland, the place HSUS claimed to have shut down. We learned about the place in 2017, and were keeping watch over it. The Maryland shoot was a relative stones-throw from the headquarters of the Humane Society of the United States, also in Maryland, but apparently HSUS - which claims to be at the forefront of fighting pigeon shoots - had no interest keeping an eye on the place.

In March we documented and exposed a live pigeon shoot in Alabama held by the Alabama Forestry Association, and its largest member, Georgia Pacific, announced there will be no more. Time will tell, and we are watching.

The Philadelphia Gun Club, which has held pigeon shoots since 1877, never even started its October to April season. Is that a permanent end? Can’t say right now, but we’ll be watching.

While the demise of pigeon shoots is something that should have happened many decades ago, SHARK’s use of high-end drones and other technology is now making the end of pigeon shoots a real possibility.

Given all the groups that once had pigeon shoots as a major campaign, it is reasonable to assume that those groups would now do what is required to further the effort, and terminate the issue. Unfortunately, nothing could be farther from the truth.

HSUS claims it has information about pigeon shoots in other states, and SHARK wants to act on that information. By what possible logic or ethical code would any supposed humane organization refuse cooperation?

If HSUS is correct about shoots in other states having been shut down, then what is the harm in sharing the information with us, and for that matter, the world? Surely a credit-grabbing organization such as HSUS wants nothing more than to parade that information in front of everyone, unless of course their claims are untrue.

Years ago I had a confrontation with Wayne Pacelle over rodeos. The Illinois office of HSUS was defending the Illinois Department of Agriculture over its refusal to take action against rodeo cruelty. The head of the HSUS office wanted to be in tight with Ag. officials, and he was willing to sacrifice the animals in the process.

I told Pacelle in no uncertain terms that in the event that someone put themselves between SHARK and its target, we don’t go around the interloper - we go right through them. To his credit, Pacelle made the Illinois office back off, and SHARK successfully pressured the Ag. Department to start investigating and citing rodeo cruelty. This led to the first prosecutions in Illinois history against rodeo stock contractors.

I am now passing the advice I gave to Wayne Pacelle on to Kitty Block, the HSUS board, and anyone else. If you are actually going to stand in the way of SHARK’s efforts to end live pigeon shoots, then you become our target. If we have to fight through you to get to the shooters, so be it. Be prepared to get the same treatment as any other animal abuser. I have neither the time nor the patience to put up with your self-serving corporate bullshit.

As for HSUS supporters, I have to ask - are you aware that HSUS supported a 2017 bill in Vermont, which was ultimately passed, which reduced the cage size for dogs and cats in Vermont? SHARK worked with humane organizations in Vermont to try to dissuade HSUS from this terrible bill, which was supported by the puppy mill industry, but HSUS refused to stand down, and the horrible bill became law. Why would you support such an organization?

HSUS threw pigeons under the proverbial bus with a new humane law in Pennsylvania that literally gives pigeon shooters legal cover for their heinous and depraved behavior. This constitutes the utter betrayal of the worst victims of abuse in Pennsylvania. Why would you support this betrayal?

We’ve included links to videos about both the Vermont and Pennsylvania bills in the description section of this video, so you can see what HSUS has done for yourself.

Now HSUS refuses to share information that could put us on the trail of more pigeon shoots - an issue that SHARK has confronted in the most effective way of any organization in animal protection.

Please, take time to know what you are supporting, because enabling corporate profiteers such as HSUS, with its overpaid and unproductive bureaucrats, does not help animals.

In any case, and to whoever this applies, have no doubt. SHARK will take on anyone and everyone on this issue, and to the degree it includes the supposed animal protection movement, it’s game on.

SHARK and I did not want this fight. For decades we have tried to work with HSUS and other groups to advance animal issues. Now, unfortunately, the inaction and stonewalling for the sake of profiteering has become so blatant that it can simply no longer be ignored.

I’m Steve Hindi, for SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness.