The Pennsylvania Game Commission doesn't call pigeon shoots a sport nor does the International Olympic Committee, which banned it after the 1900 Olympics. Most hunters and sportsmen oppose pigeon shoots because they aren't considered to be fair chase hunting.
SHARK also claims Heckler repeatedly refused to file charges against the PGC for actions that specifically violate Pennsylvania law. It claims Heckler refused to file charges against PGC members for deliberately firing shotgun shells at protesters in boats on the Delaware River. The PGC had initially filed requests with the Coast Guard to establish temporary exclusion zones on the river during pigeon shoots, but withdrew the requests. SHARK believes the reason is because the PGC didn't wish to file an environmental impact statement that would reveal more than a century of shotgun shells and dead pigeons polluting the river.
The SHARK petition also claims that in two separate incidents PGC members recklessly drove their vehicles at female protestors. Both actions were captured on videotape. In one case, the local police and the DA's office refused to press charges. In the second incident, a PGC member who is an attorney yelled sexist obscenities at a Marianne Bessey, an animal rights activist, "as he recklessly drove his SUV past her." Later, in media interviews, the PGC member acknowledged his actions. However, when Bessey, an attorney, tried to file a private complaint for disorderly conduct and harassment, Heckler denied it. Bessey says Heckler claimed there was "insufficient evidence" and that her complaint lacked "prosecutorial merit."
Heckler also refused to file charges against an individual who, SHARK claims, assaulted Hindi and brandished a pistol, threatening him for protesting. According to the petition, Robert Olsen, operations manager of Carlton Pools, owned by Joseph Solana who holds live pigeon shoots on his property, twice drove his SUV directly at a vehicle driven by Hindi on the company's parking lot. The third time, according to the petition, on a public street, Olsen "grabbed at and assaulted" SHARK investigator Janet Enoch. When Hindi tried to intervene, Olsen pointed a loaded pistol at Hindi, swore at him, and ordered him to "get down on the ground," according to the complaint. Although the assault was videotaped, Heckler filed only two charges--reckless driving and fighting. In contrast, according to SHARK, Heckler prosecuted a resident who "pulled a handgun on a snow plow operator who had just buried his car in the snow." That charge led to a three month jail term.
Pigeon shoots, like cockfighting and dog fighting, "are contests scored by hurting and killing live animals while gambling on the outcome, representing the worst of humanity," says Prescott.
Although Pennsylvania legislators, police, and DAs may publically say how much they detest animal cruelty, they have shown their cowardice to do what is right by their failure to prosecute cruelty charges against pigeon shoots.
[Walter Brasch, an award-winning syndicated columnist, has shot at many clay pigeons but never at a live pigeon. He attended his first pigeon shoot as a reporter more than 20 years ago, and has been writing about the cruelty of pigeons shoots since then. He is the author of 17 books; his latest is the critically-acclaimed novel Before the First Snow.]
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).