Legislature Should Outlaw Bird Shoots
By The Standard~Speaker Editorial Board
The Standard~Speaker
May 22, 2009
Pennsylvania remains the only state that allows pigeon shoots, a cruel practice in which live birds are used like inanimate targets for the entertainment of shooters and profit of event organizers.
The practice has survived, despite decades of legislative efforts to end it, because advocates of the practice have managed to conflate it with hunting.
True hunters are insulted by that notion, however. It’s time to put the myth to rest and pass new bills introduced in the House and Senate that finally would outlaw pigeon shoots and turkey shoots, in which live turkeys are tied to bales of hay as targets for archers.
Both bills emphatically state that the prohibition on the cruel practices simply does not apply to any form of legitimate hunting, period.
Although many live pigeon shoots have fallen to public opposition in recent years, the practice continues. The Humane Society of the United States estimates that about 22,000 live birds are used as targets every year in Pennsylvania.
Lawmakers finally should recognize that banning pigeon shoots will not adversely affect hunting. They need only look at other states that have banned the practice but where hunting thrives. Legislators should end this embarrassment to the commonwealth by quickly passing the new bills.
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