Because nearly all of the 50 states except Pennsylvania have banned the use of live pigeons or animals for target practice, a few Pennsylvania gun clubs have become the killing fields for out-of-state shooters who cannot legally use live animals or birds for target practice in their home states.

Typically, 70 percent of the birds released in pigeon shoots are shot and wounded rather than killed outright, with some wounded animals escaping into the area to suffer for hours or days before dying.

During a live block shoot, live, domestic turkeys are tied to bales of hay and shot from yards away with arrows.

Legislation (HB 1411/SB 843) has just been introduced in the Pennsylvania Legislature to ban the killing of animals launched for trap shoots or tied in place for block shoots. Please call and write your state representative and senator to urge support for this legislation.

Pennsylvania is the last state where this is openly practiced. Other states do not tolerate this animal cruelty, and Pennsylvania shouldn't either.

If you do not know who your elected officals are or if you need more information, you can contact the Humane Society of the United States by e-mail at stoplivepigeonshoots@hsus.org.

Silvie Pomicter,

Chinchilla