August 22, 2017
DEAR FRIENDS,
SHARK is very pleased to announce that, after a relentless 3-year, non-violent campaign waged against Jim Inhofe, United States Senator from Oklahoma, he will no longer hold cruel live pigeon shoots as political fundraisers!
This is an extraordinary victory, as we took on a powerful and corrupt politician in his home state, one that others were afraid to go after, and we defeated him in just three years.
DEAR FRIENDS,
SHARK is very pleased to announce that, after a relentless 3-year, non-violent campaign waged against Jim Inhofe, United States Senator from Oklahoma, he will no longer hold cruel live pigeon shoots as political fundraisers!
This is an extraordinary victory, as we took on a powerful and corrupt politician in his home state, one that others were afraid to go after, and we defeated him in just three years.
Watch our new video HERE:
We discovered the demise of Inhofe’s pigeon slaughter through a records request with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. The first document was sent by Baxter Lewallen, Inhofe’s Field Representative, to an ODWC Game Warden.
"I am happy to let you know that this year, and going forward, we are going to halt the “old world pigeon shoot” in favor of wild dove hunts on both Friday and Saturday.
I know this event has caused some tension in the past, so I hope this move will allow us to rebuild those relationships.”
The “tension” he refers to was our unwavering efforts against these shoots and how we focused both on Inhofe and the Wildlife department whose wardens served as workers for Inhofe’s political event.
The cancelation was further confirmed in a second email from Brian Hackler, Inhofe’s State Director, which was sent to the same Game Warden:
"As many of you probably heard we will not be doing the pigeon shoot this year.”
"I am happy to let you know that this year, and going forward, we are going to halt the “old world pigeon shoot” in favor of wild dove hunts on both Friday and Saturday.
I know this event has caused some tension in the past, so I hope this move will allow us to rebuild those relationships.”
The “tension” he refers to was our unwavering efforts against these shoots and how we focused both on Inhofe and the Wildlife department whose wardens served as workers for Inhofe’s political event.
The cancelation was further confirmed in a second email from Brian Hackler, Inhofe’s State Director, which was sent to the same Game Warden:
"As many of you probably heard we will not be doing the pigeon shoot this year.”
SHARK rescued more than two-dozen pigeons from Inhofe's shoot last year. Many of the birds had bands on their legs, meaning they had been hand-raised
Inhofe is replacing the pigeon shoot with a dove hunt, which SHARK absolutely opposes, but he won’t be using 1,000 hand-raised birds who will all die, because even those who escape cannot survive without help. Overall, there will be many less animals killed with the pigeon shoots shut down. Hopefully, Jim Inhofe will some day find a way to enjoy himself without killing animals.
We want to thank those who participated in this extraordinary victory, including Oklahoma citizens, the Cherokee Nation, WildCare Foundation and grass roots activists from Arizona, California, Kansas and Texas. And we want to thank all of you who wrote and called Inhofe and kept the pressure on him.
SHARK first became aware of Inhofe's pigeon shoots in 2014, when one of our investigators went undercover to film it. This is a wounded pigeon from that year
We hope that this victory shows you that, no matter how powerful, how corrupt our opposition is, they can be defeated if we stand strong, fight smart, and stick to our moral beliefs. Never be afraid to speak out against people like Inhofe, for fear is how people like him retain power and continue to abuse and kill animals.
We said that we would never stop fighting Inhofe as long as he held pigeon shoots, and that oath has been fulfilled. However, we will be watching to make sure Inhofe doesn’t reverse course and to hold him accountable for any other violations of law.
