FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, May 30, 1997
CONTACT:
Mike Markarian, (301) 585-2591, MikeM@fund.org
Harrisburg, Pa. -- Mike Tomczak, quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pat Croce, president of the Philadelphia 76ers, and Jon Lieber, pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, have joined The Fund for Animals' new "Pennsylvania Athletes Against the Cruelty of Live Pigeon Shoots" campaign. The Fund today faxed petitions signed by the three sports figures to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge and Speaker of the House Matt Ryan.
On the petitions, which read "Shooting Defenseless Pigeons is No Sport," Tomczak, Croce, and Lieber "urge Governor Ridge and our state legislators to end Pennsylvania's outdated live pigeon shooting contests that kill and maim thousands of birds and promote violence to our children." Tomczak has played in two Super Bowls, and Croce is a two-time national karate champion.
Gun clubs in at least six Pennsylvania counties regularly hold live pigeon shooting contests, where shooters compete for money and prizes by gunning down thousands of tame birds released one at a time from boxes at a distance of about twenty yards. Young children known as "trapper boys" and "trapper girls" collect the wounded birds, and kill them by ripping off their heads, stomping on them, or throwing them into barrels to suffocate. Shooting contests in most other states and foreign countries -- including the Olympic Games -- long ago replaced live targets with clay ones.
Says Mike Markarian, Director of Campaigns for The Fund, "A true sport matches willing participants of equal abilities against one another, and no matter who wins you can shake hands and play again. Matching armed shooters against trapped birds is like matching the Pittsburgh Steelers against a high school football team. Pigeon shoots are an embarrassment to all sports."
