It costs a lot of money to maintain a seat in the United States Senate and Senator Jim Inhofe returned to Oklahoma to attend his annual pigeon shoot fundraiser. In short, pigeons are taken from cages and thrown in the air for attendees to gun them down. It’s not hunting and hard to see what is “sporting” about it. The fundraiser has angered some Oklahoma residents because dozens of wounded and maimed pigeons were left to die on the ground, nearly 30 were rescued three full days later:
Advocates managed to load up about 28 birds and bring them to Wildcare, a place that takes in wild animals, cares for them and then releases them back into the wild.
"If you were shot three days earlier, of course you'd be suffering,” Large said. “They were dehydrated. Infection has been setting in on some of these guys because they have open wounds. Gunshot wounds for three days out there without any sort of care. That's totally inhumane.”
Unfortunately, there isn’t anything illegal about the whole disgusting affair. From Rondi Large of the WildCare Foundation:
It is not against the law, but some believe it is against what's right.
"They are not a bird that is covered by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act,” Large said. “So, unfortunately, it's not against the law from the treaty act to do what was done to these birds, but it's obviously animal cruelty."
When asked about the cruelty charges, Inhofe’s office sent the following to KFOR:
“KFOR would like to talk about this pigeon shoot while Senator Inhofe is working to pass in the Senate this week a bill that will solidify the historic settlement on water rights in central and southeastern Oklahoma to the benefit of the State, Oklahoma City, and Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations, which will ensure drinking water supplies and recreation for Oklahomans well into the future with recognizing cultural claims on Oklahoma's lakes among other regulatory reforms benefiting Oklahoma and the country.”
It probably never dawned on the senator he can walk and chew gum at the same time.
x Embedded Content