The slaughter was horrific.

Wounded birds literally fell from the sky, slamming on the rocky shoreline, choking on their own blood as they died.

Victim of the Philadelphia Gun Club. (Photo: SHARK)

This past Saturday, March 2, 2013, a day-long pigeon shoot was held at the Philadelphia Gun Club (PGC) in Bensalem, PA. on the banks of the Delaware River. SHARK was there the entire time.

SHARK posted two boats on the river to document the slaughter

and to rescue the wounded who came within their reach. As in the past, SHARK volunteers were hit with shotgun pellets with alarming regularity. Also, as in the past, the police refused to do anything.

One pigeon fell into the river and drowned.

Others fell onto the trees and brush under the PGC wall, where they were paralyzed with no movement visible, save for a slowly blinking eye.

When the competition ended,

the shooters desperately tried to hide from SHARK cameras as they left the club. Some tried to leave through a side exit, yet when they saw one of SHARK’s investigators, they reversed as fast as they could so that no one would see who they were.

SHARK rescued seven wounded pigeons.

Due to their wounds, and because of their emaciated condition even before the slaughter, two passed away that day. Two more died that night. Three, however, Faith, Pegasus and Shadow, are still alive. (See them on SHARK’S website)

Pigeon shoots are competitions wherein thousands of live birds are shot to win prizes. A typical 3-day shoot contest can kill and injure up to 15,000 birds.

A new bill to specifically ban pigeon shoots has been introduced into the Pennsylvania State Senate. Already, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association is at work to stop it.

For everyone who thinks you can’t make a difference, groups like SHARK prove it’s not so.

If you are as horrified as SHARK is about this cruel and senseless “sport,”

get everyone you know in to write and call state legislators in Pennsylvania, and ask them to support Senate Bill SB 510, which will ban pigeon shoots.