FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, September 4, 1997
CONTACT:
Heidi Prescott, (301) 585-2591, heidi@fund.org
HEGINS, Pa. -- Today, The Fund for Animals released results of its pigeon shoot monitoring program at the 1997 Hegins Labor Day pigeon shoot, and reported that approximately 78 percent of the birds released at the event were not immediately killed, but rather were wounded. This analysis is the fifth coordinated effort to document the fate of released birds. The wounding rates at previous shoots were 58, 70, 77.5, and 77 percent for the 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1996 shoots, respectively.
Investigators monitored 4,154 pigeons released on all seven shooting fields. This total represents nearly all of the pigeons released at the 1997 shoot, and is only slightly higher than the 4,124 birds released last year. Only 220 shooters participated, down from 250 in previous years.
Of the 4,154 pigeons released from traps, 540 (13 percent) were killed immediately by shooters; 2,671 (64 percent) were wounded and then collected by "trapper boys"; 596 (14 percent) were wounded and either not routinely collected by "trapper boys" or not collected at all; and 377 (9 percent) escaped without injury. The 1996 data collectors documented 4.124 released; 566 (14 percent) killed immediately; 2,642 (64 percent) wounded and collected; 532 (13 percent) wounded and not routinely collected; and 384 (9 percent) not injured.
Documenters reported an increase in "trapper boys" diving on wounded birds, and one instance of a "trapper boy" strangling a bird to death with his hands. At least three birds were already dead when the traps were opened.
"This monitoring work indicates that the Hegins pigeon shoot may be the nation's most extreme example of organized animal cruelty," says Heidi Prescott, National Director of The Fund for Animals. Year after year there are literally hundreds of violations of Pennsylvania's animal cruelty law, yet the Legislature has allowed this wanton abuse to continue."
Throughout the day, Fund volunteers rescued more than 50 wounded birds. The 26 birds who survived were given veterinary treatment and transported to rehabilitation facilities.
One pigeon shoot spectator has been charged with disorderly conduct for biting the head off a live bird. Police are investigating other reports of head bitings, and a report of one man and two children who tore a live bird into three pieces by pulling on the bird's head and both wings.
