Inside the fight to stop Pennsylvania pigeon trafficking
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A flock of pigeons takes off on a sidewalk in Brooklyn in February. Photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images
Efforts to outlaw live pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania have failed for decades — despite allegations of interstate bird trafficking and mounting pressure from animal welfare groups.
The latest: New York City activists and lawmakers are asking Pennsylvania to pull the plug on pigeon shoots and stop what they say is a steady stream of street birds smuggled across state lines to be used as targets.
- NYC Council Member Carlina Rivera — who helped pass a 2019 law banning the trapping of wild birds in the city, elevating it to a misdemeanor offense — urged Pennsylvania lawmakers in June to support House Bill 1097. The bill would criminalize using live pigeons as targets in the Keystone State under animal cruelty laws.
- She cited the spring arrest of a Pennsylvania man in Manhattan who police said had a history of netting pigeons and selling them for target practice back home.
What they're saying: Allie Taylor, president of Brooklyn-based Voters for Animal Rights, tells Axios that limited enforcement makes pigeon netting hard to track. Her group backed New York's 2019 bird capture ban, but Taylor says its impact is muted unless Pennsylvania takes steps to deter the practice.
- "We really need legislators in Pennsylvania to step up, do the right thing and work with us," she says.
Catch up quick: The issue took flight nationally in April, after Brooklyn artist and activist Tina Piña Trachtenburg, known as "Mother Pigeon" for her feathered outfits and longtime defense of city birds, raised alarms over a shrinking flock in her local park.
- She led protests outside a nearby pet store she accused of selling stolen birds for live pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania. The owners denied any wrongdoing and were not charged.
The big picture: A handful of private gun clubs, mostly in Southeastern Pennsylvania, still hold regular live pigeon, or "flyer," shoots, using real birds instead of clay targets, per Spotlight PA. The pigeons are released midair and shot as they fly.
- Supporters defend it as a time-honored test of skill; critics call it cruel and outdated, pointing to birds left wounded and killed later by hand.
Flashback: New York Times reported in May that the city has seen repeated waves of bird-napping throughout the years, citing Humane World for Animals.
The other side: Groups opposed to banning the practice of pigeon shoots, like the Pennsylvania Flyers Association and the Philadelphia Gun Club, lobbied hard against proposed bans last year, per the Spotlight PA analysis.
- Representatives for the Flyers Association and Philadelphia Gun Club did not respond to Axios' requests for comment. But Paul Perlstein, a Bucks County lawyer and spokesperson for the Flyers Association, told the New York Times that pigeons used in the sport are typically "nuisance birds" that would have been culled anyway.
- He said, as far as he knows, no pigeons from New York City streets or parks have ended up in Pennsylvania flyer shoots.
What's next: House Bill 1097, sponsored by state Rep. Perry Warren from Bucks County, was referred to the House Judiciary Committee in April. Warren did not respond to Axios' request for comment.