Bucks DA Declines To Prosecute Local Hunting Club On Animal Cruelty Charges
By Brad Segall
BENSALEM, Pa. (CBS) -- The controversy over pigeon shoots in Bucks County is heating up again, with prosecutors deciding not to pursue animal cruelty citations filed against the Philadelphia Gun Club in Bensalem.
Bucks County district attorney David Heckler say he is convinced the club is doing what it's supposed to when it comes to humanely killing birds that are wounded during the shoot.
For that reason, Heckler says, he is asking a judge to dismiss five counts of cruelty to animals that were filed against the gun club related to a pair of pigeon shoots in March.
He says the citations were really about ending the shoots, which he says are legal in Pennsylvania.
"You know, if you want to exercise free speech and do a lot of other things, God bless you. But if you are using the courts as a vehicle, that's not something I'm going to stand for," Heckler told KYW Newsradio today.
He says the club hired people to patrol on land and water in search of wounded birds. An animal rights organization calls the shoots "illegal" and says Heckler is using his power to protect the club from the cruelty charges.
