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SHARK Fights the Philadelphia Gun Club on the Delaware River While the Coast Guard Does Nothing
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This past Saturday, the notorious Philadelphia Gun Club held another pigeon shoot on the Delaware River. SHARK was there with two boats in the water. Although the Coast Guard was called twice, they took no action. Yesterday, SHARK sent the following letter to Rear Admiral William "Dean" Lee, Commander, Fifth Coast Guard District:
Dear Admiral Lee,
This letter is to inform you of a dangerous and deteriorating situation occurring in the Sector Delaware Bay division of the U.S. Coast Guard.
My organization, SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK), sent a letter to Captain of the Port, Meredith L. Austin, regarding trapshoots held by the Philadelphia Gun Club (PGC) where they fire directly into the Delaware River. We are including that letter here. Since we sent that letter the PGC held another trapshoot, this past Saturday, March 17, 2012.
A major part of our mission was to document what we believe are violations by the PGC of the Clean Water Act. To that end, SHARK had two boats legally on the river documenting the shoot. From the start to the end, and regardless of a newly erected fabric wall, we videotaped a regular spray of gunshot that was deposited in the water. We also documented shotgun shell casings that landed in the river and no effort was made to retrieve them. We also saw a number of wounded and dead birds fall into the water as well.
More pertinent to our letter today, however, is the fact that while we undertook this legal activity, armed men from the PGC fired their weapons in our direction, sometimes directly overhead, hitting us with gunshot pellets. Twice that day we called the Coast Guard and neither time did they take any action.
As you will read in the letter we are including, the previous Coast Guard Commander told the PGC that they required a Safety Zone in order to hold their shoots, a requirement that the current Commander refuses to enforce.
During our conversations with the Coast Guard we specifically asked when would they take action, and were told if there was a danger to boat traffic and navigation on the river. If armed men firing weapons at boats legally on the water does not rise to that level, then the Coast Guard mission is pointless.
Nowhere else would people exercising their First Amendment rights would be subject to gunfire and the authorities refuse to take action. For some reason, the PGC feels confident and arrogant enough to know that they can point their weapons at us and fire and that they will be spared prosecution. Tragically, because the Coast Guard has failed to take action, it appears as if they are right.
Based on the Coast Guard's own previous investigation and determination that the PGC is required to have a Safety Zone in order to hold trapshoots, and that the PGC is clearly acting in a way that endangers boat traffic on the navigable waters under your protection, we request that the Coast Guard shut down all future shoots held by the PGC, and launch an investigation into why the PGC has been allowed to so flagrantly violate the law.
Sincerely,
Steve Hindi
President, SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness.
Please contact the Coast Guard and politely demand that they stop the Philadelphia Gun Club from shooting over the Delaware River.
Rear Admiral William "Dean" Lee,
Commander, Fifth Coast Guard District.
Email the Coast Guard online HERE. |
SHARK Rescues a Wounded Pigeon from the Philadelphia Gun Club
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Meet "Sunny," a victim of the Philadelphia Gun Club. Though she escaped from the main killing field, she was shot and wounded by a thug positioned outside the shooting ring and then abandoned.
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Sunny, where she fell into the river. She would have either drowned or died slowly if we had not been there
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Sunny was hit while escaping over the river. She fell hard into the water near the bank of the river. We rescued her, then drove her to a wildlife rehabilitator who took her to a vet.
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Sunny in safe hands, as we prepare to get her to safety
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Though she suffered from a bloody gun shot wound, the vet was most concerned that she was emaciated - the pigeon shooters had starved her - and that threatened her life more than anything.
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Sunny keeping warm under a jacket on the ride to the wildlife rehabilitator
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Think about all that one animal went through; capture, starvation, shot and nearly drowned. And all because some soulless people take pleasure in killing. Unfortunately she passed away a few hours after being rescued. At least in the end she was cared for and loved. We think that matters.
Watch the video of Sunny's rescue HERE
If you are appalled at what the PGC did, then please contact Karl Natriello (a chiropractor) who is Secretary for the PGC, and politely ask him why he is an officer for an organization that causes such cruelty.
Phone: (609) 586-4100
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University of Colorado Students Cited for Killing a Pigeon
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While the mass slaughter of pigeons for fun is being allowed in Pennsylvania, in Boulder, Colorado, two University of Colorado Students have been cited for killing a Pigeon.
Witnesses called police a little after 7 p.m. to say that they had seen two men beating pigeons with a broomstick on the balcony of an apartment in the north tower of Spanish Towers, 805 29th St. According to a police report, the witnesses described the men as "joyful" and "excited."
"They described the scene as if they were watching an MMA (mixed martial arts) fight on TV," the report said.
Both men were issued tickets for animal cruelty. You can read the rest of the article HERE.
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Atlantic City Rodeo Comes Back to New Jersey
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The Atlantic City rodeo is coming back on March 30-April 1, 2012. SHARK was included in an article published in the Atlantic City Press yesterday, where we discussed the video we took last year:
"Here's why you cannot have a humane rodeo, and it's the basic part of it: These animals do not want to get hurt. ... To force them to perform, they have to cause them pain," Chaifetz said. Chaifetz has video from last year's Boardwalk Rodeo that shows several animals having their tails pulled, their ribs jabbed with poles and their backs stepped on with boots. You can read the entire story HERE. And here is a video from last year.
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Atlantic City Rodeo Cruelty
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Good news from our friends from the International Movement Against Bullfights; the Congress of Panama recently approved a law that bans bullfights and dogfights!
Congratulations to those who worked to make this law!
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Kindest Regards,
Steve Hindi and Your SHARK Team
"Kindness and compassion towards all living beings is a mark of a civilized society. Racism, economic deprival, dog fighting and cock fighting, bullfighting and rodeos are all cut from the same fabric: violence. Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well ourselves." - Cesar Chavez, civil rights and labor leader, founder of the United Farm Workers
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