There is no prohibition in Pennsylvania for raising dogs and cats for human consumption. It is also the last state where cruel live pigeon shoots are openly practiced. Out-of-state shooters travel here to kill birds, because it is against the law in their own states.
More than 22,000 birds are used as live targets every year in the state for these shoots. More than 70 percent of the thousands of pigeons released are wounded. Injured birds often make it out of the shooting ring, only to suffer, languish and die in backyards, on rooftops and other nearby areas.
HB 1750 passed the House of Representatives unanimously and was then amended in the Senate Judiciary Committee to ban the raising, slaughter, processing, and offering of dogs and cats for human consumption. It will also ban the mechanical launching or tethering of live birds, dogs, and cats for trap shoots or block shoots.
Please call and write your state senator and representative and ask them to "please support and vote in favor of HB 1750, including the amendment to stop contests where live animals are shot!" You can find Senate e-mail addresses here, and House e-mail addresses here, or contact them through their websites.
SILVIE POMICTER, Chinchilla