The Oklahoman
by Randy Ellis Modified: September 23, 2014 at 10:08 pm • Published: September 23, 2014
A fund raising event for Sen. Jim Inhofe in which about 1,000 live pigeons were thrown up into the air to be shot by Inhofe and his political supporters has an animal right group crying foul.
LONE WOLF — A fund-raising event for U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe in which about 1,000 captive live pigeons were thrown up into the air to be shot by Inhofe and his political supporters has an animal rights group crying foul.
“It’s cruel. It’s cowardly,” said Steve Hindi, president of the Illinois-based animal rights group Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK). “To shoot an animal ...and to leave them rotting or even suffering out in the field is unconscionable.”
Hindi said he believes it is also an illegal violation of Oklahoma’s animal cruelty laws.
A video of the event was secretly recorded and posted on YouTube, with narration from Hindi.
Rusty Appleton, Sen. Inhofe’s campaign manager, defended the Sept. 5 event, which he said was part of the senator’s annual dove hunt fundraiser.
“Sen. Inhofe agrees with the NRA (National Rifle Association) that they (pigeon shoots) are a long-standing shooting sports tradition,” Appleton said. “The group that is protesting this deal is one of those groups that literally protests rodeos and has publicly come out against hunting — especially deer hunting.”
Appleton said donations contributed by supporters who attended the event went to Inhofe’s re-election campaign and the Fund for a Conservative Future, which he described as Inhofe’s leadership PAC. He declined to say how much money was raised from the event and said he could not remember whether any other politicians attended the pigeon shoot.
Inhofe, R-Tulsa, was not available to talk about the pigeon shoot and was not planning to issue a statement, Appleton said.
