The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

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Pigeon shooting: Who are the real animals?

In Pennsylvania, animal advocates are struggling to pass a bill to end live Pigeon shooting.

Live Pigeon shooting is a process in which live pigeons are captured by humans, put into small boxes and then they are “launched into the air” where they are shot at close range. The shooters involved refer to this as a contest in which they earn points for every pigeon they shoot down within a certain proximity.
Many of the birds, who are not killed at the time of the shootout, fly away and most of them eventually succumb to their injuries and bleed to death. Animal Advocates, familiar with the common use of pigeons instead of clay in these shootouts, are citing live Pigeon shooting as inhumane and cruel. They also define live pigeon shooting as similar to a clay shoot, except that the shooters are using live animals instead of clay.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, Pennsylvania is the last state to allow live pigeon shooting, and state advocates are struggling to put an end to these “contest kills” in their state.
According to Heidi Prescott, who is the Senior Vice President of Campaigns for the Humane Society of the United States, the Live Pigeon Shooting Bill, SB 715 was passed by the Pennsylvania State Senate with a 36 to 12 vote last session. However, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Majority Leader “failed to bring the bill up and put it on the on the floor, so the pending bill died.
Elissa Katz is another animal advocate who is fighting for an end to Live Pigeon Shooting as well. She is a Pennsylvania lawyer and founder of a political organization dedicated to educating the public about animal legislation in their state, called Humane PA. Recently, Humane PA posted a blog on their website, titled, “The Blog That We Didn’t Want to Write,” which expressed the concerns animal advocates have with the continuous pending of the Live Pigeon Shooting Bill that has yet to be passed through legislation and become a new law. SB 715 will now have to be reintroduced this session in Harrisburg, which began Tuesday, Sept. 22.
“With regard to the House, since the bill has only been introduced in the Senate and there is not actual legislation pending in the House,” Elissa Katz states, “we are seeking the commitment from Representatives to support any legislation to ban live pigeon shoots. Public opinion polls have shown that the majority of Pennsylvanians favor an end to live pigeon shoots.”
Katz notes that the best way the public can help end live pigeon shooting in Pennsylvania is to contact their elected officials and ask them to pass legislation to end the shoots. According to Katz, SB 715 was supported by Gov. Tom Wolf: “It is our belief that had the bill been given a vote in the House, it would have passed. The bill would have then been sent to the Governor – who had already committed to sign into a law a bill to end live pigeon shoots. Of course that didn’t happen and now, thousands of birds are suffering.”
Heidi Prescott is also working to see that legislation is passed in Pennsylvania for these birds. Prescott, who has been fighting for the passing of the bill for more than 25 years and visits the capitol in Harrisburg every Tuesday, says that the public is opposed to Live Pigeon Shooting.
“The majority of Pennsylvania citizens find it cruel and prefer the use of clay in substitution for pigeons,” Prescott concludes. “Most hunters also believe in ‘fair chase’ and are also opposed to these shoots.”
As Katz concludes, “Cruelty is cruelty. Everything about a live pigeon shoot is cruel, from the stockpiling of ‘target birds’ who are deprived of adequate food and water, to the shoot itself, when wounded birds often fly off the shoot property where it may take days before they finally succumb to their injuries. An animal should not have to be deemed significant to society in order to be spared cruel treatment at the hands of people”.
Currently, animal advocates in the state of Pennsylvania are asking their State Representatives and State Senators to “support any legislation to ban live pigeon shoots either sent from the Senate or which may be introduced in the House itself,” as Katz said. In addition, Heidi Prescott relays her own message as well to Pennsylvania citizens and animal lovers: “Please help this bill move out of the Senate and sent to the House. Ask your State Representative to support SB 715. It is long past time for this bill to pass through Pennsylvania Legislation.”
Animal advocates, including the Humane Society of the United States and Humane PA, the “political voice for animals,” are hoping that an end to live pigeon shooting will be passed quickly through the House of Representatives, hopefully during this current session.