FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, August 4, 1997
CONTACT:
Heidi Prescott, (301) 585-2591, heidi@fund.org
Katherine Meyer, (202) 588-5206
POTTSVILLE, Pa. -- Today, as part of a lawsuit that was filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill County in May, a Pennsylvania humane officer filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to halt the Hegins pigeon shoot scheduled for Labor Day. The plaintiff alleges that the pigeon shoot is illegal under Pennsylvania's Cruelty to Animals law, 18 Pa.C.S.A. $ 5511(c).
"If the pigeon shoot is not halted before Labor Day, hundreds of violations of the Cruelty to Animals law will once again be allowed to occur," declares Katherine Meyer, attorney for the plaintiff. "Ripping the heads from crippled birds, or leaving them to writhe in pain without food, water, or veterinary care, is a clear violation of Pennsylvania law."
The plaintiff in the case is Officer Clayton Hulsizer of the Pennsylvania S.P.C.A. He alleges that the defendant has violated Pennsylvania's Cruelty to Animals law by (1) annually organizing a pigeon shoot in which thousands of birds are wounded for entertainment purposes, (2) killing wounded birds by tearing their heads from their bodies or by banging the birds against barrels, and (3) leaving wounded birds unattended without food, drink, shelter, or veterinary treatment.
At the Hegins pigeon shoot in 1996, investigators from The Fund for Animals documented that about 77 percent of the birds released were wounded. Investigators monitored 4,124 pigeons released, and documented that 566 pigeons (14 percent) were killed immediately; 2,642 pigeons (64 percent) were wounded and retrieved by "trapper boys"; 532 pigeons (13 percent) were wounded but not routinely collected by "trapper boys"; 384 pigeons (9 percent) escaped gunfire unharmed; and 3 birds were already dead when the traps opened.
The Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill County previously dismissed a case against the Hegins Labor Day Pigeon Shoot, but on appeal the Superior Court ruled that the trial court should have made "a factual determination of whether the wounded birds are cruelly treated, or whether all reasonable efforts are employed to dispose of injured pigeons in a non-abusive way."
Adds Heidi Prescott, national director of The Fund for Animals, "Pigeons are animals, and it is illegal to abuse or neglect any animal. The Courts must halt this massive, organized cruelty."
For a copy of the 22-page motion filed today, please contact The Fund for Animals at (301) 585-2591 or fund4animals@fund.org.
