Ducks Unlimited had a “Phigeon ” shoot planned at the Minnesota Horse and Hunt Club, Prior Lake, MN, on Thursday, March 20th, 2014, according to a press release from SHark (Showing Animal Respect and Kindness). Because of the backlash of emails received by animal advocates and SHARK’s intervention, the shoot has been cancelled.
What is a phigeon shoot, you ask? It is a twist on two words revolving around two birds- pheasants and pigeons. Look carefully at the image of the pigeon.
SHARK also wanted to know and sent an email to Terry Correll, the general manager for the Minnesota Horse & Hunt Club, in January of 2012. Here is an excerpt from that email:
“Once apon a time of a staff person got bored releasing birds over the 2 1/2 hours and decided to take some of the
tail feathers that were left over in some of the bird crates and stuck the quill of the tail feather below the skin of a pigeon and released it.”
“One of the DU (Ducks Unlimited) committee was dog handling to retrieve the downed pigeons on that shoot and thought it could be a sales tool.
So you have pigeons flying around with long pheasant tails .
It stands out like a you can’t imagine and doesn’t hinder the flight of the bird at all.”
“And from that day forward there have been phigeons showing up in the DU shoot in February.”
Steve Hindi, President of SHARK says, “Pigeon shoots are extremely cruel events where living birds are shot at as targets, it is killing for the sake of killing.” “As vicious as a pigeon shoot is, what makes the Ducks Unlimited shoot even more horrific is that employees of the hunt club jam sharp pheasant feathers into the backs of the pigeons and then release them to be shot for fun. It’s as sick and twisted as you can get, but Ducks Unlimited thought it was so great that it could be a “sales tool.” This is illegal and we are calling on the authorities to stop it from happening.”
I spoke with a hunter who doesn’t and never has attended a pigeon shoot. He found “phigeon” shoots to be savage and vile. He was shocked to hear that Ducks Unlimited could be connected to something as cruel as this. Other hunters share his sentiments.
For now, Ducks Unlimited has distanced itself from this heinous “sport.” Will they continue down this path?
What are your thoughts on “phigeon” shoots?
.(You can view the entire email between SHARK and Terry Correll here: http://www.sharkonline.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1441)
Watch SHARK’s video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnllHXc17BI
Who ever thought up this insane idea to put a pheasant feather into a pigeon? The world has gone nuts! Thanks SHARK for getting this stopped.
So glad this heinous shoot was cancelled.
What the hell is wrong with this world? Cruelty to animals never ends and then they have to invent new ways to torture animals.
This is beyond sick! If pigeon shoots weren’t bad enough now you have morons sticking pheasant feathers into them. stupid idiots! I’d like to stick them with something that hurts and have them fly around and shoot at them.
Is this for real? This makes me ill. Less and less humanity exists in this world. This is why I like animals more than people.
The image is gone but I get the “picture”. No pun intended. Scum.
Ducks Unlimited has supported these shoots in the past and will again. Mark my words. There was a backlash this time but I’m sure they hope it will go away and hold another one. You wait and see!
cruel, horrible, sad, atrocious, neverending. Why aren’t these people charged with animal cruelty? Why does this continue? I thought PA was the only state that still allowed pigeon shoots.
This was really very horrible. 🙁
yeah really horrible and cruel
It is not illegal as is claimed.