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

November 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1992:

Citing fear of liability if they

should inadvertantly euthanize a pet, under

a new state law directed at pet thieves, the

Oregon Humane Society and Multnomah

County Animal Control now refuse to

accept cats brought to them by private citi-

zens and independent groups who trap ferals

and strays. The Portland-based group

Committed to Animal Protection,

Education, and Rescue charges, however,

that fundraising tactics are involved.

CAPER cites a letter from OHS staffer

Sharon Harmon, who wrote, “Despite the

services provided by OHS (to cats brought

in by independent rescuers), we received no

cash donations for their care. If we had

made contact with the owner or finder at the

time of surrender, by modest estimation, we

could have potentially realized $18,000 in

donations.”

DOGS & CATS

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

* Wildlife officer Ric Nattrass of the Queensland (Australia) National Parks

and Wildlife Service has concluded that, “Based on data collected by wildlife staff

at the Moggill Centre (in Brisbane), there is no evidence to date that the domestic

cat is a major threat to the long term survival of the city’s native fauna. From a

purely conservation point of view, neither the numbers nor the species taken by cats

are cause for alarm when compared with the losses to urbanization, industrializa-

tion, motor traffic, and the creation of the horse paddock.” Nattrass’ report is

based on the experience of a single metropolitan area, as critics are quick to note,

and flies in the face of conventional belief; but it is worth pointing out that the only

other major study of domestic cat predation to date, by John Lawton and Peter

Churcher, was also based on the experience of a single location, a village in thesub-

urbs of London, England, and also concluded that while cats kill significant num-

bers of animals, the overwhelming majority are common mice, voles, and birds

(principally sparrows).

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.

Hunting news

October 1, 1992 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1992:

Arizonans will vote November 3

on a referendum measure to ban

trapping, portrayed by the National Rifle

Assn. and National Trappers Assn. as an

attempt to ban all hunting and fishing as

well. The initiative is sponsored, however,

by Arizonans for Safety and Humanity on

Public Lands, whose initial board of direc-

tors included a hunter and a gun dealer. The

group declined funding from the Humane

Society of the U.S. to avoid confusing the

issues.

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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