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No More Killing Innocent Birds: Stop Pigeon Shoots
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Pennsylvania is the only state left that allows this horrible practice.
Pigeon shoots have been banned in every part of the country except for the state of Pennsylvania, so call on the President of the Pennsylvania State Senate, Floor Leaders, the Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and the Pennsylvania State Governor to end the barbaric ‘tradition’ of pigeon shoots! It is inherent cruelty of shooting live, captured birds for sport, and this practice needs to end!
Today, Pennsylvania is the only remaining state that allows the practice to continue. In 2014, a bill to end pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania was allowed to expire after the NRA stepped in at the 11th hour with some heavy-handed lobbying [3] which put animal cruelty above that of animal rights.
Not only are 75% [4] of people in the state are in favor of a law that would ban the ‘sport,’ but 83% [4] of people said that it was an unnecessary form of animal cruelty, and not a tradition that should be preserved.
These shooting events consist of putting pigeons inside of a box, and then when a shooter calls out, the pigeon is either released, or launched from the box. The shooter then tries to hit the bird in the air to have it drop on a target on the ground. [1]
According to the Humane Society of the United States: “After each round of shots at the birds, participants — sometimes children — take to the field to collect wounded and dead animals. If the suffering pigeon is still alive, the collector will sometimes snap the animal’s head off or slam her against the ground before tossing the animal into a barrel full of dead and dying pigeons.” [2]
Many of these birds are not even from Pennsylvania. Recently discovered footage of people netting and stealing pigeons in New York City is believed to point to an illegal smuggling ring which transports the birds over state lines to provide the live targets for the merciless shoots. And while pigeons might not be New Yorkers’ favorite animal, the NYPD has stated that removing them from city streets is illegal. [5]
Shooting pigeons for sport used to be practiced world-wide. But as time went on, people realized how cruel it was to trap a pigeon in a box, and then release it for the sole purpose of shooting a moving target. And today, the leadership in the state of Pennsylvania and the NRA are the only ones who want it to continue.