Ask your Representatives to outlaw pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania 

March 18, 2010
By Megan Drake
Philadelphia Animal Advocate Examiner

The controversy over pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania is heating up. Animal Advocacy group Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) has been bringing to the public's attention the barbaric, cruel and inhumane 'sport' of launching live pigeons into the air for target shooting by people who apparently enjoy it. Pennsylvania is the only state in this country to still hold live pigeon shoots.

Recently, on February 20, Steve Hindi of SHARK was piloting a small boat in the Delaware River outside the Philadelphia Gun Club in Bensalem when pigeon shooters, fully aware of his presence opened fire and hit his boat, the Guppy and Hindi with buckshot.

Bensalem Police were notified immediately via cell phone but to date have done nothing. Read the documentation here.

There are people who think there is nothing wrong with shooting live pigeons as a form of target practice. They appear blissfully unaware of the suffering they cause to birds that are shot but do not immediately die.

Pigeons can linger in pain and suffering for hours or days before to succumbing to mortal wounds. As The Philadelphia Gun Club is contiguous with the Delaware River, some pigeons are shot, fall in the river and drown.

In May of 2009 legislation HB 1411was introduced in the Pennsylvania Assembly that would classify live pigeon shooting as animal cruelty and outlaws the practice. To date the bill has not even made it out of the judiciary committee.

Pennsylvania residents, please contact HB 1411 sponsor, Assemblyman Eugene DePasquale (D–York County) and ask him to move this bill out of the judiciary committee for a vote in the house. Also, find your specific representative here and contact them to encourage this bill to move forward. Live pigeon shoots will continue until Pennsylvania joins the rest of the civilized world and outlaws it.