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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Jay Purdy |
State Rep. Frank
Andrews Shimkus |
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Shimkus bill would down pigeon shoots for good
HARRISBURG, Jan. 26 – Organized pigeon shoots would become a thing of the past in Pennsylvania with passage of a bill sponsored by Rep. Frank Andrews Shimkus, D-Lackawanna, that would ban the events.
Shimkus said his effort to put the nail in the coffin of live pigeon shoots is the result of an out-of-state group’s attempt last fall to lease land in Covington Township to put on a shoot.
The township was able to get a court injunction against the event, but not before it had to put $5,000 into legal bills and associated costs.
At a pigeon shoot, birds either bred or captured are released one at a time about 30 yards from the shooter. Wounded birds that are not killed by the shotgun pellets fall to the ground and suffer or are collected and their necks snapped.
Shimkus said that while Pennsylvania’s most widely known pigeon shoot, the annual Labor Day weekend shoot in Hegins, is no longer held, a handful of shoots still occur.
“Pigeon shoots have nothing to do with hunting and could easily be replaced by clay pigeon shoots,” said Shimkus.
Shimkus emphasized that the ban on organized live pigeon shoots would not apply to dog training or other shooting or hunting activities.
During the last session, legislation to ban the shoots received wide support but was not brought to the House floor for a vote. The Shimkus measure (H.B. 73) likewise has found considerable support; it already has 29 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle.
Shimkus added that to the best of his knowledge, the only states that still allow live pigeon shoots are Pennsylvania, Arizona and California.
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