It is long past time to end these horrific, cruel contests in our state! You can help! It is long past time to vote on a bill to end live pigeon shoots. Please contact your state representative to ask them to co-sponsor Representative Perry Warren’s bill which will end barbaric pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania.
WHAT IS A LIVE PIGEON SHOOT? Live pigeon shoots are inhumane contests where live birds who have been captured, brought into Pennsylvania, often illegally from neighboring states, are shot at close range by shooters who earn points for every bird they shoot down within a certain range. Observers documented that 70% of the birds are wounded but not killed outright. Pennsylvania remains the one of the last states where these notoriously cruel events are regularly held.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH PIGEON SHOOTS? They are extremely cruel. Each live pigeon shoot results in untold animal suffering; neighbors around the shoots have watched wounded birds slowly bleed to death over hours and days. Additionally, children are used to retrieve the shot birds and pets pick up the dead and dying birds left in the shooting area.
In preparation for the shoot, pigeons are kept in boxes and then launched one-by-one into the air by a spring loaded bottom when the box is opened. The shooter must react to which box opens and receives points according to where the birds land. The birds are disoriented and confused as the shooter opens fire. At the end of the events, shooters receive prizes for their performance.
After each round of shooting, birds within the shooting circle are collected – often by youth with no training in proper euthanasia methods – and killed or immobilized by slamming, snapping, or snipping the head off or breaking of the neck. The birds are then tossed into a barrel or pile of dead and dying pigeons and discarded as garbage. It is common to find live birds mixed with the dead in the garbage heap hours, or even days, after the shoot.
Pigeon shoots are similar to dog fights and cockfights in that participants gamble on the outcome of these events where winners kill the most birds.
TRADITIONAL SPORTSMEN OPPOSE LIVE PIGEON SHOOTS: Most hunters recognize there is a big difference between stalking a wild animal in the woods and shooting a disoriented, captive bird just released from a box in a competition. The Pennsylvania Game Commission has opined that a narrowly tailored ban, as provided for in this legislation, on live pigeon shoots will not affect any legal hunting activities in Pennsylvania. Pigeon shoots are not genuine “sportsmen” events and there is nothing sporting about close range shooting of mechanically launched dazed, weakened and disoriented birds. Join the majority of Pennsylvania hunters who would never participate in an event that is an embarrassment to their sport.
ENDING CRUEL LIVE PIGEON SHOOTS IS NOT ANTI-GUN: Shoot away! At clay!
For 25 years, this bill has not received a vote as a free-standing bill. It is long past time for the Pennsylvania legislature to end this backwards and cruel practice that has more in common with cockfighting and dogfighting than with hunting. This bill deserves a vote.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP THESE BARBARIC CONTESTS: Contact your state legislators to ask them to support the bill to end live pigeon shoots.
Humane PA 