Hunting

December 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

HUNTER CHARGED WITH HOMOSEXUAL RAPE

Fourteen million Americans hunted

in 1991, according to newly released U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service statistics; 34.5

million fished; and more than 76 million

watched, photographed, or fed wildlife

without feeling the need to kill.

Or rape.

Hunting critics who equate the

lethal pursuit with perversely sublimated

sexuality got an apparent case in point

November 4 when police charged hunter

Antone Mendes Jr., 40, of Plymouth,

Massachusetts, with open and gross lewd-

ness, lewd and lascivious speech or behav-

ior, assault and battery, assault with a dead-

ly weapon, attempted kidnapping, and leav-

ing a firearm in a motor vehicle unattended.

The charges allege that Mendes

sexually assaulted his hunting partner, an

unidentified 23-year-old man.

Performing Animals

December 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, December 1992:

Greyhound racing profits in New England

are sharply down, hurt in part by publicity surrounding

abuse cases at the Lakes Region, Green Mountain, and

Raynham raceways. Betting at Raynham was off 9%

this year from last, and down 26% from the peak

reached in 1989. Receipts at the Plainfield raceway

were down 22% from last year. Some New England

trainers have begun sending their dogs to Brazil, where

greyhound racing is just catching on.

The American Humane Association has given

the Warner Brothers film Pure Country a “questionable”

rating because of rodeo scenes. The film stars George

Strait and Leslie Ann Warren.

An occasional novelty since the 1930s,

female bullfighters are now the rage in Spanish rings.

One, 20-year-old Cristina Sanchez, is expected to

become the first Spanish woman to achieve the rank of

matador.

Who Shot Those Pigeons?

November 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1992:

HARRISBURG, Pa.––The Sept-

ember 9 edition of the Valley View Citizen

Standard took a few weeks to reach partici-

pants in the Labor Day protest against the

59th annual Fred Coleman Memorial Pigeon

Shoot, but when it did, it ignited a furor.

The hometown paper of Hegins,

Pa., where the pigeon shoot is held, pub-

lished the names and scores of all pigeon

shoot registrants. Among those listed as

scoring, a euphemism for killing pigeons,

were seven protesters who paid the $75 reg-

istration fee in order to let pigeons escape

by intentionally shooting high, low, or

wide when the traps were opened. Twenty

pigeons were released for each registrant to

shoot at, one at a time, on command.

ANIMAL CONTROL & RESCUE

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

* The Sprint telephone service and the

American Humane Association have set up a

nationwide hotline to help reunite lost pets

with their keepers. Reporting a stray is free:

call 1-800-755-8111. To report a lost pet, call

1-900-535-1515. The cost for lost pet calls is

$1.95 per minute, a portion of which is donat-

ed to AHA. The average lost pet report takes

four minutes to complete, according to Sprint.

* Paige Powell and Tama Janowitz of

New York City produce a TV show in cooper-

ation with the animal rescue groups Being

Kind and the Animal Project to promote pet

adoptions. Called It’s A Dog’s Life, the show

airs on channels 16 and 17.

Guest Column: Violence and hatred won’t stop the pigeon shoot by Marjorie Spiegel

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

The string is pulled. The lid of the box opens,

and a bird flutters a few feet up into the air and is imme-

diately shot once, twice. If it is a clean shot, the bird

lies motionless. The crowd cheers. “That one’s dust,”

says a spectator. If the shooter is less accurate, we see

one wing, perhaps, twitching in the air, or a bird strug-

gling on the field. Boys in yellow shirts run to the birds,

throw a body in the bag, twist a neck, then into the same

bag. Sometimes a commotion: someone has made it

onto the field. She is pursued, yet reaches the string

lines or the boxes. The lids open, and eight or so pigeons

fly off to freedom, the most beautiful sight on a day

filled with much to be sorry for.

That is the essence of the Labor Day pigeon

shoot in Hegins, Pennsylvania: some people wish to use

these pigeons for target practice, and others wish to see

this ended and to let the pigeons go free.

KKK defends pigeon shoot; 2,000 protest Labor Day bird massacre but 5,000 support it. Time for new tactics?

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

HEGINS, PENNSYLVANIA — A pigeon hit point-blank by a shotgun blast looks

like a spreadeagled angel for just a split second, until the pellets tear her white breast and wings

to pieces and she flaps to the ground, awaiting the trapper boys who will wring her head off.

Wounded angels to some, doves of peace to others, and flying rats according to the

human participants, 5,000 to 7,000 pigeons are shotgunned each Labor Day at the Fred Coleman

Memorial Pigeon Shoot in Hegins, Pennsylvania. Held annually since 1934, the shoot was

reputedly dying of disinterest a half century later; but no more. Two thousand protesters turned

out this year, nearly double last year’s then-record number. Lured by the chance to heckle, be

on TV, and maybe see someone get killed dashing in front of the guns to save pigeons, the

crowd of shoot supporters doubled as well, to an estimated 5,000. Among them were several

motorcycle gangs and two robed and hooded Ku Klux Klan members from Ephrata, Penn., who

explained that they saw the event as a good chance to recruit.

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