What is a notable challenge you have faced? How has this experience shaped you as an advocate and activist and influenced the way you interact with others in the future?
The Hegins pigeon shooting in Pennsylvania was a focus of the animal rights movement in the late 1980s. It was an annual crowdfunding centered around pigeon shooting and beer drinking. Animal advocates began showing up to protest against the intention to stop the killing. We will express our disapproval and distaste for the event, often resulting in public conflict with event participants. Various arrests have been made over the years as police try to maintain order amid the volatile environment. The circus’s violent atmosphere attracted gunfire advocates who liked conflict, which made us realize that our confrontational approach was not yielding the desired results.
We decided to change our tactics; Instead of fighting shooters, we started documenting the violence of pigeon shooting and rescuing injured birds. When the shooters and their supporters tried to resist, we refused. Unfortunately, the team started taking more drastic measures to stir us up. They rushed in to catch the injured birds to stop us from helping them. And they tore off birds’ wings and bit off their heads, trying to incite conflict with us.
However, as the gunmen increased their confrontational tactics, we remained nonviolent and continued to document their behavior. During the years-long battle, Farm Sanctuary was established as a Pennsylvania law enforcement agency and filed a charge of cruelty, complementing other legal strategies underway to end the shooting. . Our behavior was considered respectable and responsible, and the shooters, still seeking to create violent confrontations, behaved in disgusting ways. Their position becomes less viable and more desperate.
In the event’s final year, the shooter’s violence was repeatedly met with violence, which eventually prevailed. At the end of the day, after most people had left, a small group of animal advocates convened around a veterinary truck where the rescued pigeons were being cared for. When a group of frustrated shooters arrived for one last attempt to stir up a conflict, we linked arms and turned our backs on them, placing ourselves between the shooters and the pigeons. Thankfully, the police arrived just as the shooters did and ordered them to disperse. It was a fitting end to an ugly event. This episode helped me understand the power of nonviolence in creating social change.
In the end, we rescued dozens of pigeons, many of which came to live at the Farm Sanctuary. And if you visit our Watkins Glen shelter today, you can see the descendants of these Hegins birds.
