Cease fire! A new bill would outlaw pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania

May 6, 1993

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Those who object to the “sport” of pigeon shooting in Pennsylvania now have a vehicle for doing away with these events in which thousands of birds are killed or wounded and then discarded.

A bill introduced in the state House of Representatives by Rep. George Saurman, a Montgomery Republican, would make live pigeon shoots illegal in Pennsylvania as they are in West Virginia and Ohio.

In one such shoot held every Labor Day at Hegins, Lebanon County, more that 6,000-crated birds are set free to be shot down by marksmen who pay $300 to compete.

There’s no thinning-the-herd motive involved in the activity; the main justification participants offer is that the proceeds of these events go to community needs, such as recreation programs. There are far less cruel and wasteful ways to raise money.

So controversial have these affairs become that huge crowds of protesters now appear at each event, creating another reason for doing away with them – security. More than 1,500 protesters showed up a Hegins alone last year and hundreds of state troopers have had to be dispatched to control confrontations.

Pigeon-shooters say these events are a tradition in the state, part of its culture. That may be so, bit it is one that it can afford to lose without the social fabric here being weakened. Rep. Saurman’s bill offers a way to do just that.