Letter Regarding North Carolina Pigeon Shoots


TO: Honorable Sheriff Marion T. Grissom
143 Williamsboro Street
Oxford, NC 27565

FROM: Angel M. Gambino, Director of Legal Affairs

RE: Dogwood Gun Club Eleventh Annual Fall Invitational and 28 Gauge Championships

DATE: October 27, 1997

Dear Honorable Sheriff Grissom,

On behalf of over two hundred members and supporters of the North Carolina Network for Animals ("Network for Animals") and approximately 3,000 North Carolina members and supporters, The Fund for Animals ("The Fund") wants to draw your attention to information we received regarding the biannual Dogwood Invitational and 28 Gauge Championship ("Dogwood Invitational") hosted by the Dogwood Gun Club ("Dogwood"). Recently, The Fund's North Carolina members alerted us that the event includes the shooting of live pigeons. As you may know, shooting live pigeons for recreational purposes is unlawful according to North Carolina's Cruelty to Animals laws and the court precedent set forth in State v. Porter, 112 N.C. 887, 16 S.E. 915 (1893). We respectfully request that your office initiate an investigation, take appropriate action to stop the Dogwood Invitational and prevent future shoots from occurring.

According to the invitations distributed by the Dogwood, it is our understanding that the Dogwood hosts two annual invitational 28 Gauge Championships in which live pigeons are used as targets for shooters. See Attachments A,B. On each of the four days of the Dogwood Invitational 25 pigeons per person per event, called "flyers" are released and used as living targets. Shooters stand 30 yards from the pigeon release site and attempt to shoot the released pigeon with a 28 gauge shotgun. Shooters win trophies such as gold coin belt buckles and there is a list of optional and compulsory purses. The Eleventh Annual Fall Invitational is scheduled for November 5-9, 1997. Upcoming Dogwood Invitationals are scheduled for April 1-5, 1998 and November 4-8, 1998. We roughly estimate that over 1,000 birds in total are offered to be shot at the Dogwood Invitational.

Pigeons are protected under North Carolina law. Section 14-360 of the Cruelty to Animals law broadly protects any "useful beast, fowl, or animal" from abuse and neglect. The legislature comprehensively defined "animal" to "include every living creature." Likewise, the legislature further included the adjective "any" before the term "animal." Furthermore, the legislature defined "animal" in such way as to specifically protect fowl. Thus, there can be no doubt that pigeons come within the scope of the code.

It is also clear that the activities at the shoot violate specific prohibitions of the law. A person commits a Class I misdemeanor if he:

willfully overdrive[s], overload[s], wound[s], injure[s], torture[s], torment[s], deprive[s] of necessary sustenance, cruelly beat[s], needlessly mutilate[s] or kill[s] or cause[s] or procure[s] to be overdriven, overloaded, wounded, injured, tortured, tormented, deprived of necessary sustenance, cruelly beaten, needlessly mutilated or killed as aforesaid . . .

Prohibitions such as "torture," "torment," and "cruelty" are defined to "include every act, omission or neglect whereby unjustifiable physical pain, suffering or death is caused or permitted." The Fund believes that the Dogwood Gun Club violates these provisions in at least five ways.

First, the pigeon shoot results in "unjustifiable" physical pain, suffering and death. Specifically, these animals are willfully wounded, injured, tortured, tormented, needlessly mutilated and killed. The pigeon shoot is caused or permitted by the Dogwood Gun Club and its shoot participants. Each year, over approximately 1,000 birds are intentionally shot. The birds are not used for food, nor is the shoot part of an accepted hunting season. In fact, when I called the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission ("Wildlife Resource Commission") on October 23, 1997 and inquired into the regulations and legality of pigeon shoots, Mr. Wib Owen stated that, "Our regs don't address that." He further stated that according to the Wildlife Resource Commission, pigeons were unregulated birds. Likewise, the shooters cannot claim that this activity is an animal control measure, as the birds are intentionally released into the surrounding countryside. Rather, the birds are purportedly shot for purposes of entertainment and prize money. See Attachments A,B. These purposes clearly would not justify a dog or cat shoot, and they are no more justifiable at a pigeon shoot.

The Appellate Court in State v. Porter, 112 N.C. 887, 16 S.E. 915 (1893), long ago answered any question there might be as to the legality of pigeon shoots under Section 14-360 by upholding a defendant's misdemeanor conviction for inflicting suffering and death on a useful animal when the defendant engaged in a pigeon shoot. The court declared, "Man's desire for amusement and sport is no justification for the infliction of suffering and death upon any of the creatures protected by the statute now under construction." Id. The court emphasized its reliance on the plain language of the statute when it stated, "Knowing that men of intelligence often differ as to what constitutes cruelty in one's treatment of dumb creatures, the legislature has seen fit to define that word, and also the words 'torture' and 'torment,' and has thus made its intent very plain." Id. The plain language of the statute and the longstanding case law protecting pigeons clearly make pigeon shoots illegal in the state of North Carolina.

Second, The Fund and the Network for Animals are concerned that the pigeon shoot results in pigeons being neglected and deprived of necessary sustenance. While The Fund has not had an opportunity to observe this particular this particular shoot. [1] The Fund has observed dozens of pigeon shoots and the same sordid state of affairs is repeated at shoot after shoot. Without exception, many if not most of the birds who are shot are not killed instantly, but are wounded. These wounded animals suffer in great pain from their injuries. Moreover, injured birds escape from the immediate area where they are shot. Expert veterinarians have indicated under oath that these wounded birds likely die of blood loss, infection, or predation, and, as the escaped birds are not recovered, they are not provided food, water or veterinary care and they eventually die. The Fund has no information that the Dogwood Invitational is any different in this aspect from other shoots. Moreover, The Fund questions whether the shoot could actually provide food or water because such a large number of birds are wounded in a short period.

Third, Section 14-361 broadly prohibits instigating, promoting or otherwise engaging in any act in furtherance of cruelty to animals. The Dogwood is currently violating specific provisions of the law. A person commits a Class I misdemeanor if he:

willfully set[s] on foot, instigate[s], or move[s] to, carr[ies] on, or promote[s], or engage[s] in, or do[es] any act towards the furtherance of any act of cruelty to any animal . . .

Certainly, sending invitations to shooters, acquiring pigeons, keeping pigeons in captivity for purposes of the shoot and otherwise organizing the Dogwood Invitational falls within the purview of the law.

Fourth, The Fund and the Network for Animals are concerned that the Dogwood is abandoning these wounded animals. We are not aware that Dogwood makes any effort to find wounded and other birds that are not immediately killed. These animals are abandoned and left to die a slow painful death. Section 14-361.1 prohibits abandoning animals, making it a Class 2 misdemeanor if a person:

being the owner or possessor, or having charge or custody of an animal, who willfully and without justifiable excuse abandons an animal . . .

There is no justifiable reason to shoot the birds and similarly there is no justifiable reason to abandon the animals. In fact, there are plenty of reasons to retrieve the birds. For example, wounded birds may be consumed or come in contact with wildlife, companion animals and children who may contract diseases from the dead and dying animals.

Fifth, The Fund for Animals and the Network for Animals are worried that some of the birds used in the shoot may be homing pigeons. A person is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $500, imprisonment for not more than six months, or both if he:

at any time or in any manner . . . hurt[s], pursue[s], take[s], capture[s],wound[s], maim[s], disfigure[s] or kill[s] any homing pigeon owned by another person, or to trap the sam e by use of any pit, pitfall, scaffold, cage, snare, drug, poison, explosive or chemical for the purpose of injuring, capturing or killing such homing pigeon.

It is unclear according to the brochure and other information we received if homing pigeons are used in this particular shoot. However, in other pigeon shoots, organizers used homing pigeons among the pigeons used as live targets.

Thank you for reviewing this matter. Please notify me by October 31, 1997 whether and what enforcement actions are underway pursuant to our notifying you of the Dogwood Invitational. We urge you to take immediate action to prohibit the Dogwood Invitational from occurring on November 5-8, 1997 and to ensure that the Dogwood discontinues its illegal and cruel practice of shooting living pigeons.

Thank you,

Angel M. Gambino
Director of Legal Affairs

cc: Honorable Michael Easley, Attorney General
Honorable David Waters, District Attorney
Mr. John Malloy, Dogwood Gun Club

FOOTNOTES:

1. The Dogwood Invitationals are held in extreme secrecy, away from public view. Indeed, the public is not made aware of the event through advertisements or other means. Only persons who receive special private invitations from the Dogwood or individuals who are escorted by invited shooters and registered with the Dogwood are allowed on the private premises.

oOo


The Fund for
Animals

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