July 29, 1997
Samuel E. Hayes, Jr., Secretary
Department of Agriculture
2301 N. Cameron St., Room 211
Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408
Dear Secretary Hayes:
The Fund for Animals, Inc. requests that you extend the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's ("PDOA") "bio-security policy" for poultry explicitly to cover live pigeon shooting contests.
On May 16, 1997, the PDOA ordered a general quarantine against portions of Rapho, Penn, West Hempfield and East Hempfield, all of which are located in Lancaster County. The quarantine order prohibited the movement of "poultry" -- which was explicitly defined to include pigeons -- to or from the quarantine area, without a permit from the PDOA.
On July 22, 1997, the PDOA established additional restrictions through the issuance of a "bio-security policy" for the exhibition of poultry. The PDOA advised County Fair personnel in Lancaster, Chester, Montgomery, Lebanon, Dauphin, Berks, Cumberland, York, and Schuykill counties that "there will be a bio-security policy of no feathers or live poultry exhibits" at "county" fairs during the remainder of 1997. This policy, according to the PDOA, stemmed from the concern of poultry growers in southeast counties that "exhibition of live poultry could result in the spread of H7N2 influenza virus currently affecting Lancaster County."
By not explicitly including pigeon shoots under the "bio-security policy," the PDOA is failing to address a potential source for the spread of avian influenza. Under this policy, a person at a fair in Berks County or Schuylkill County apparently could not even exhibit a feather that was plucked from a pigeon;[1] yet, a person could release into the environment that same pigeon -- and hundreds of others --- at a pigeon shoot which occurs in the same county. In the interest of consistency, if the Department prohibits such a low risk activity as exhibiting feathers it should simultaneously prohibit an activity which has a much higher potential for spreading disease by releasing hundreds of birds into the environment.
On August 1-3, the Strausstown Gun Club in Berks County will hold a pigeon shoot. Thousands of birds will be released, and of those, hundreds will escape gunfire and will make their way into the local environment. It has been reported to us that the pigeons at the shoot will be imported from Lancaster County -- the heart of the avian influenza outbreak. This supplier houses pigeons and chickens in cages that are located within a yard of each other, providing a potential means for transmission. In addition, on Labor Day, September 1, the annual Hegins pigeon shoot is scheduled for Schuylkill County, and the birds for that event will be purchased from the Powderbourne Gun Club in Montgomery County. The planned transport of birds from Lancaster County to Berks County this week, and from Montgomery County to Schuylkill County next month, and then the release of these birds into the wild, simply must be halted.
Secretary Hayes, pigeon shoots have been at the center of many controversies, including political ones. We hope that under your leadership, this issue will finally and seriously be addressed. We urge you to intervene to prevent the transfer and release of birds in areas covered under the bio-security policy. In addition, I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you and to discuss these matters.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Heidi Prescott
National Director
cc: Governor Tom Ridge
Senator Roy C. Afflerbach
Representative Sara Steelman
FOOTNOTE 1: The PDOA did not define "poultry" in its policy. However, as the PDOA defined "poultry" in the quarantine order to include pigeons, and as pigeons are capable of carrying and spreading avian influenza, The Fund assumes that the policy includes pigeons.
