Humane officer loses in pigeon shoot case
September 3, 2012 12:13 am
By Ben Present / The Legal Intelligencer
A sharply divided Commonwealth Court has denied a Humane Society police officer's bid to force the Berks County district attorney to prosecute a sporting club for how it conducts pigeon shoots.
Ruling 4-3, the full court panel decided Officer Johnna Seeton was not entitled to a writ of mandamus to compel Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams to bring animal cruelty charges against the Pike Township Sportsmen's Association. The association holds shoots for members and their guests and sometimes uses teenaged "trapper boys" to clean up the remains and snap the necks of pigeons that survive.
Pennsylvania is the only state that legalizes live pigeon shoots.