SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK)

2010-10-12T07:39:00.000-07:00

SHARK has been working hard in Pennsylvania not because we want to, but because pigeon shoots are absolutely horrendous, and there has been a lack of real effort on the ground, at the shoots themselves. As part of our work, we expect to be attacked by those who desire to slaughter pigeons, but it came as a complete surprise when we were sucker-punched by Karel Minor, Executive Director of the Humane Society of Berks County, in a blog that he wrote and posted here.

Though we are extremely busy fighting for animals, we had no choice but to respond to his insane blog-rant. We even asked him to allow it to be posted along with his, but he refused.

To clear the record and our name, here are the communications from this issue:

SHARK’s response to Mr. Minor’s original post

This is in response to Humane Society of Berks County Executive Director Karel Minor’s recent blog in which he apologized to Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and Tom Cruise for comments made in a recent SHARK update. There are a few things that need to be reiterated, a few things to be corrected, and a few things that must be clarified.

Mr. Minor claims Governor Rendell didn’t deserve to be called sleazy. He claims Rendell has done much to help animal causes, although more could be done, so he doesn’t deserve to be ‘attacked’. Perhaps Mr. Minor finds it acceptable that his governor helps some animals while not bothering to help others when he can help all of them, but we find that wholly unacceptable for this governor and for every governor across this Nation.

At issue is Governor Rendell’s promise that he would sign a bill to ban pigeon shoots if such a bill were to make it to his desk.

Rendell’s “offer” is nothing more than manipulation - trying to make himself out the good guy when in fact he’s done nothing whatsoever. Governor Rendell hasn’t lifted a finger to push the bill, although he could do so. When it comes to Pennsylvania animal issues, as leader of his state, Rendell should have made it a priority, especially considering that Pennsylvania is the only state that openly allows these mass slaughters.

Given the profound cruelty of pigeon shoots, coupled with the embarrassment that regularly results for his state as these killing contests are exposed, that would be the right thing for Rendell to do.

Without an active effort from Rendell, it is virtually impossible for that bill to get to his desk. He knows that. It’s akin to offering you a million dollars to jump the Grand Canyon. Rendell’s offer was no better - just a pitch to take in suckers.

Governor Rendell’s manipulation is as sleazy as it gets, especially when he apparently has ample tax-payer funded time to appear on national television to “enrich” everyone with his knowledge of the national political landscape instead of taking care of business in his own backyard. In our update I suggested that Rendell focus considerably more on the cruelty and corruption at home where he was duly elected to serve.

Mr. Minor also takes issue with our suggestion that Mr. Cruise’s parenting skills are lacking because he took his children to a rodeo. I reiterate that position, just as I would if Mr. Cruise took his children to a dog fight or cock fight. Interestingly, the late, great human rights activist Cesar Chavez equated the violence of rodeos with the violence of dog and cock fighting:

“Kindness and compassion towards all living beings is a mark of a civilized society. Racism, economic deprival, dog fighting and cock fighting, bullfighting and rodeos are all cut from the same defective fabric: violence. Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well ourselves.” - Cesar Chavez

If Mr. Minor doesn’t understand the blatant abuse that occurs at rodeos, perhaps he might educate himself before commenting further on the issue. I assume Mr. Minor would question parents who bring their children to pigeon shoots. I certainly do. So why would parents who bring their kids to another form of abuse be any less subject to criticism?

What was perhaps the strangest part of Mr. Minor’s blog was the claim that in criticizing the leadership of the Church of Scientology, we were somehow blaming every person who is a member of Scientology. Not only is that incorrect and certainly not our intention, but the sheer stretch of Mr. Minor’s imagination to that end is troubling.

Mr. Cruise has made himself the public face of his Church. They are conjoined with his celebrity. We gave The Church the benefit of the doubt and ample time to disavow Mr. Cruise’s personal choices of not only indulging in being a spectator at an animal abusing venue, but his past and future movie deals which glorify cruelty to animals as fun and entertainment for movie-goers. The Church and Mr. Cruise have both failed to respond to written concerns. Their silence speaks volumes. Therefore, we will hold the leadership of the Church responsible and equally culpable for Mr. Cruise’s involvement in animal cruelty issues because they have claimed to be humane minded while their actions, or in this case lack thereof, demonstrate otherwise.

Mr. Minor accuses us of intolerance, bigotry and fascism. Yet, he made the comment: Thank God he isn’t a Muslim; who knows what they would have asked us to do!” Perhaps he would care to address why he felt the need to single out Muslims. What was his need to make that ridiculous statement at all? But in response to his inappropriate question, we would suggest consultation with his Imam.

Mr. Minor further likens us to the Ku Klux Klan. That is ludicrous and should be beneath him. He condemns us for what he perceives is a lack of civil discourse. Our lack of civil discourse? He must cover his mirrors, because in them is the reflection of someone who is guilty of the same with his own accusations of us. He calls our organization bigots but in his opinion we can’t call an elected official who won’t keep promises a sleaze. Mr. Minor says he agrees with the way we handled a vulgar, foul-mouthed pigeon shooter, but when he doesn’t agree with us, he tries to crucify us by calling us bigots. There is nothing civil or logical in Mr. Minor’s teeter-totter opinions.

We understand there are times to be diplomatic, such as when we first approached the church and Mr. Cruise. But as they choose to ignore the issue, so it is time for straight talk.

We promised Mr. Cruise and the church that if the rodeo project goes forward, we would make Cruise and the church “carry the stain” of involvement with animal abuse for the duration of his career and beyond.

Of course we will. What does Mr. Minor think rodeo animal abuse is, a traffic ticket? Neither he nor anyone else will get an apology from us for holding the guilty responsible for abuse. That’s what we do.

Mr. Minor characterizes our promise as “stunning, horrible,” and “profoundly un-American.” Our First Amendment rights are as American as it gets, so I have no idea where he is coming from. We talk straight. We don’t beat around the bush or kiss political butt. We tell it as we see it, as it is. Our tongue is civil; we don’t spew vulgarity. But if the truth hurts to hear it, your conscience is telling you something.

When I first became involved in animal protection via Pennsylvania’s pigeon shoots, I quickly learned that Illinois also had these killing contests. It took less than two years to knock them out of Illinois.

We didn’t succeed by sleeping with the enemy. We talked straight, and released graphic, bloody video images that upset people. We’re not trying to be popular. We’re trying to stop pigeon shoots, and in Illinois, we succeeded. In Pennsylvania, you have quite frankly failed.

I’ve watched some so-called leaders in Pennsylvania animal protection dilly-dally with lawmakers and even the National Rifle Association over the pigeon shoot issue for some twenty years, and legislative efforts to stop the abuse were ongoing prior to my arrival. Nevertheless, the shoots continue.

People in power are not caring that they’re being asked kindly to do away with animal abuse. They need to be talked to with firmness and conviction. Constituents need to demand change, not ask for it like beggars. The honey vs. vinegar analogy doesn’t work with people who are indifferent to animals being harmed. They don’t see or need to care for a suffering animal; therefore, they don’t care, period.

Mr. Minor writes that he looks forward to getting rid of pigeon shoots so that we will leave his state. Well, we surely are on the same page there. There is little I would enjoy more than being able to leave Pennsylvania, and I will do so at the first opportunity. Unfortunately SHARK is compelled to continue to document and expose pigeon shoots.

Now you might ask the question - why not allow Mr. Minor and his humane society do that work? My answer is, I would love to do just that. After all, there are two locations that regularly hold pigeon shoots in Mr. Minor’s Berks County.

In fact, Mr. Minor brought cruelty charges against one of those locations about a year ago. Then, when Berks County District Attorney John Adams ordered Mr. Minor to withdraw the charges, Mr. Minor did just that. Mr. Minor withdrew the charges because Berks County District Attorney John Adams - who has accepted campaign money from pigeon shooters - told him to.

I don’t know what motivated Mr. Minor to withdraw the charges, but I am quite certain it wasn’t consideration to the tens of thousands of pigeons who have been slaughtered since Mr. Minor’s capitulation. Perhaps Mr. Minor would care to address that withdrawal at some point in the near future.

After Mr. Minor--who is paid for his Executive Director position-- backed down to DA Adams, Humane Police Officer Johnna Seeton, an unpaid volunteer who is NOT affiliated with Mr. Minor’s humane society, re-filed the charges. She, not Mr. Minor, is now pressing the issue in the courts. A volunteer doing more for the animals than a paid Executive Director. That’s dedication.

I believe much of the so-called leadership in Pennsylvania’s animal protection movement is either soft, terribly naïve or generally incompetent and prefers to allow things (i.e. the suffering of pigeons) to remain status quo so as not to rock any political boats.

In the lead-up to a so-called “Rally for Animals in Harrisburg on September 13, we learned that the organizers of the rally wanted the pigeon shoot issue kept out. The stated reason for the organizers’ desire to say nothing about the most obvious and outrageous abuse in the state was that they were afraid they would upset the NRA - the National Rifle Association.

To say that I was appalled is an understatement. The organizers called it bullying when I threatened to disrupt the rally if the pigeon shoot issue was not included. I did indeed threaten to disrupt it, because holding a “Rally for Animals” in Pennsylvania without including the pigeon shoot issue is ridiculous.

When I first got involved in Pennsylvania’s pigeon shoots, I met Ed Blotzer, a humane police officer from Pittsburgh. Ed Blotzer was a true hero for all animals. Ed had the same compassion, dedication and guts as Johnna Seeton, and there is no way that Ed Blotzer would have tolerated a rally for animals that didn’t include the pigeon shoot issue.

As I bullied the pigeon shoot issue into the rally, I thought to myself that perhaps the real reason pigeon shoots continue in Pennsylvania isn’t because of the pigeon shooting ghouls, or the NRA, or the sleazy politicians like Ed Rendell, but rather, because of Pennsylvania’s supposed humane leaders who are not only willing, but outright determined to sell out the beings for whom they are supposed to advocate.

Interestingly, the person who ended up being picked to discuss the pigeon shoot issue at the rally was none other than Karel Minor, and I am told that he did a good job.

The only reason Mr. Minor was able to speak about the pigeons was because of what SHARK did; he was the compromise that we created. Without SHARK, pigeons would have not had a word said about them. So while Mr. Minor complains about SHARK’s tactics, he certainly has no problem reaping the benefits from them.

I found it weird that Johnna Seeton was passed over to discuss an issue that she has championed for more than twenty years, while a guy who abandoned the pigeons a year earlier and never again came to their aid spoke on their behalf. I think that speaks volumes about the current state of animal protection in Pennsylvania - none of it good.

The saddest aspect of supposed humane-minded people who are willing to sell out the pigeons is that those people actually weaken the position of all the other animal issues, including their own. Advocating for pigeons only strengthens consideration for other animals, most notably cats and dogs, which is what rally organizers are involved in. When humane people sell out pigeons, they also diminish consideration for the cuddly species.

Allow me to draw a very clear line for those who claim to care about animals. If you want to play the political games, and stay on the good side of celebrities, and dump some animals in the process, you should steer well clear of SHARK. If, on the other hand, you intend to stop animal abuse, legally and nonviolently, but with an edge when required, we’re your group.

We’re not here to be popular or to look good. SHARK exists to stop animal abuse, period.

Don’t get me wrong about my opinion of Karel Minor and the Humane Society of Berks County. I’ve heard good things about Minor and the Society, and I believe they are doing a vital service in a tough area for animals. But Minor’s own back-off of pigeon shoots a year ago shows just how tough they are to deal with. The people and organizations supporting these killing contests, are corrupt thugs. It will take more than smooth words and kind thoughts to knock these things out. That’s where SHARK and I come in.

In closing, there will be a pigeon shoot at the Erdman Sportsmens Club on October 3, and SHARK will be there to document and expose the abuse. Other shoots will follow regularly throughout the fall and winter, and into the spring.

Since Mr. Minor is so repulsed by our tactics, I will make him an offer.

If Mr. Minor will fully commit himself, and the resources of his organization to doing the job that we have been doing, and to not repeat his back down of the pigeons again, SHARK will stand down. We’ll be out of the state, according to Mr. Minor’s expressed wishes.

However, if Mr. Minor, who already capitulated on this issue a year ago, is unwilling to do the job, then I politely ask that he please stop complaining, get out of the way, and let us continue with the very difficult and thankless task at hand. SHARK will be there for the pigeons of Pennsylvania, since Mr. Minor won’t.

SHARK asking Minor to Post Our Response

From: "Steve Hindi"

To: "Karel Minor"

Cc: "Merritt Clifton"

Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2010 2:16 AM

Subject: Your blog - our response

Dear Mr. Minor,

Below please find a response to your recent blog. I would like to know if you intend to post it.

I found your charges of intolerance, bigotry, hate mail, rudeness, self-righteousness, hyper-emotionalism, viciousness, vulgarities, etc., to be most interesting. Remember when you withdrew legitimate cruelty charges against the Pike pigeon shooters last year? While we were well aware of your retreat, you heard nothing from us. We were frankly shocked and disgusted, but we never uttered a single word about it publicly, choosing instead to simply support Ms. Seeton, who bravely took up where you left off. But now that things are in the state they are in, why not tell everyone why you did what you did?

We will be posting both what you wrote and my response on our website. In the interest of showing that you are at least well-intentioned, you might consider doing the same.

Sincerely,

Steve Hindi

SHARK

Minor’s response to our letter and our request that he include it in his blog:

From: "Karel Minor"

Date: September 26, 2010 6:20:16 AM PDT

To: "Steve Hindi"

Cc: "Merritt Clifton"

Subject: Re: Your blog - our response

Thank you for your response. Our blog serves to facilitate our organization's message and goals and responses are posted accordingly. To address the specific issue you bring up here, the HSBC faced exactly what Johnna Seeton did. The DA, as he is permitted to do under PA law, required the withdrawal of our charges because he did not share our interpretation of cruelty law. The fact that we did it voluntarily following his request was both in recognition of his legal right to require it of us and in recognition that failure to do so could place future cruelty charges, warrants, and convictions sought by our organization in jeopardy if we were perceived by the DA and judges to be engaging in activist rather than legal activity. To have "bravely" continued on in the face of a clear lack of legal standing could have resulted in an inability to prosecute any other case of cruelty because of a question of which master we serve- our own personal agendas or the law- and appropriately so.

I will say I am very much in sympathy with many of your concerns and supportive of many of your causes but I cannot support your general tone. Johnna Seeton has as much skin in the game as you, yet she is never histrionic and mean. However, in many ways your indiscriminate personal attacks serve to make one of the most effective arguments against shoots that can be made to those who don't really care about the issue: that they do not fit our community standards and they invite ill-mannered shoot participants and equally ill-mannered shoot opponents from out of state who arrive in our communities and coarsen them. I believe that pigeon shoots on their face should be banned immediately, but I also point out the added benefit of ridding us of the accessory elements they bring to our state.

I believe you engage in a very ineffective method of promoting change which holds every person to your purity test and casts all who fail in the same lot as those you actually oppose. It renders your group of compatriots smaller and smaller, empowers your opponents, and embitters and demobilizes those who should be your natural allies. I would encourage you to take a page from the book of truly effective individuals and organizations who affect change through bridge building and broadening of message and appeal. It's harder to do but vastly more effective- and more terrifying to your opponents.

Karel I. Minor

Executive Director

Humane Society of Berks County

The Leader In Animal Welfare

1801 N. 11th Street

Reading, PA 19604

1201 Ben Franklin Highway E. (Rt. 422)

Douglassville, PA 19518

610-921-2348, ext. 10

A final note; I think someone needs to tell him that calling yourself the “The Leader In Animal Welfare” means nothing if you are going to stand by and allow terrible abuse to go on and on.

2010-08-25T06:20:00.000-07:00

That old axiom that timing is everything is particularly pertinent to SHARK’s latest campaign, where two divergent issues collided with one pigeon shooting lawyer right smack in the middle.

We are referring to Sean Corr (who physically attacked SHARK President Steve Hindi ), the political patronage job he received from Bucks County Commissioners Charles Martin and James Cawley, and how he negotiated a deal with Bucks County DA David Heckler to get a charge of animal cruelty against the Philadelphia Gun Club dismissed. If you receive SHARK’s email alerts, then you already know the gory details. If you haven’t, or if you want more info, then visit our brand new site www.BucksCountyCorruption.com for the entire story.

The purpose of this blog is to give you the background on what happened, how SHARK put together an entire campaign with little notice and managed to pull off quite a coup at that.

One of the things that SHARK does as part of our major campaigns is to investigate for signs of political corruption. In other words, we follow the money. And in Pennsylvania, where it seems that everyone from the Governor to local District Attorneys to the guy who mows your lawn has to run for elected office, there is a lot of money flowing from very specific interests that appears, at least, to have a real cause and effect.

For instance - out of three county District Attorneys in PA who have been presented with charges of animal cruelty against pigeon shoots, two directly interfered with the cases and had them either withdrawn or dismissed. What was the difference between those two and the one who let it proceed to court? Those same two DA’s received financial support for their election campaigns from people who want pigeon shoots protected. See what we mean?

We had concerns for some time that DA Heckler was not an honest player as far as pigeon shoots go (read our press release for more info ), and sure enough, we found some pretty strong connections to him from both Sean Corr and his sister, State Representative Marguerite Quinn (Corr was Quinn’s campaign manager, so he truly is a player in Republican politics. Heckler is a Republican as well). Again, check out www.BucksCountyCorruption.com for the details.

At the same time that Heckler was doing all that he could to protect the gun club and keep the cruelty charge from ever being heard in court, a story broke in the Bucks County Courier Times that Sean Corr had received an “unadvertised” job as Assistant County Solicitor. The newspaper then discovered the assault by Corr against Steve Hindi, and ran a follow up article about that.

These two issues - the cruelty charge and political corruption - literally hit at the same time. Add into the mix that Corr lied about his attack against Hindi, and claimed that Hindi pushed a camera in his face, and we now had a scandal brewing on two fronts with Sean Corr swimming in the center of both.

We decided that we would attend the next meeting of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners and add our voice to the call for Corr to resign from his patronage position. The question, however, was if there was a money trail from Corr to the two Republican Commissioners, Charles Martin and James Cawley, that would substantially add to the case that was already out there that Corr got his county job not on merit, but political connections.

To find out, SHARK went to the Bucks County Board of Elections, and spent time looking through Cawley and Martin’s campaign records. And we found evidence; Corr had given $1,500 and his sister gave the same amount to the Commissioners. Now armed with this data, and with the video showing Corr had lied, we began to prepare for the meeting, which was just a few days away.

We immediately realized that we needed a website, so that the public could see we were telling the truth, and so that Corr could be held accountable. Fortunately, we already had secured a domain name for Bucks County Corruption, so it was an easy matter to pull that as it’s own site. What was not so easy was that we had two days to write our statements for the meeting and design an entire website from scratch.

Needless to say, the Monday and Tuesday before the Wednesday meeting were exhausting; Steve Hindi, who had just come off a long period away from home video documenting rodeos out West, began the long drive from Illinois to Pennsylvania, so he could appear and personally accuse Corr of lying. Meanwhile work on the website began feverishly until it was completed late Tuesday night, in time for its Wednesday morning launch.

The Commissioner meeting went better then expected. SHARK reps Steve Hindi and Stu Chaifetz were not only able to make their full statements, but went up two and three times to debate the Commissioners and answer questions, while Humane Police Officer Johnna Seeton, who attended wearing her official uniform, made an excellent presentation about the pigeon shoot issue.

The massive preparation we did for this campaign is not unusual, but in reality is the norm. You may not see the work that goes into all our public campaigns, but once you start to look behind the scenes, you’ll see an organization that fights non-stop to save lives and protect animals.

2010-08-02T10:12:00.000-07:00

Watch Shark President Steve Hindi give his thoughts on the final day of the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, in Cheyenne Wyoming.

You can also watch it in larger format on our YouTube Channel HERE

Shame on Cheyenne - Day 1

2010-07-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

SHARK investigators are now on the ground, working day and night to expose animal abuse that occurs at the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo (CFD). We want to update you about what is happening, and how CFD is trying - and failing - to stop SHARK from exposing the terrible violence.

Upon entering the grounds early Wednesday morning, CFD people told us they were banning the use of tripods during the “Timed Event Slack” (Slack are free events outside of the normal rodeo program, and often the worst abuse happens then). CFD also closed down entire sections of seating, in order to keep us away from areas that would give a good vantage point for documenting the abuse, and finally they banned long range camera lenses, obviously for the same reason.

Not long after the Slack event began, the CFD knew it was in trouble and folded; sections of the arena they had closed were opened up just one hour into the day. And, seeing that their other rules weren’t stopping us, they took the personal approach.

Two CFD people approached the SHARK team and ordered us to stop videotaping. Never mind that many others were videotaping also.

SHARK would have none of that. We refused, knowing that what we were doing was perfectly legal. After a brief altercation, all of which was videotaped, the two CFD reps left, promising to contact security. We went back to our work, and, when the CFD reps return, one of the men, acknowledging his was wrong, simply said “You're right, you're right. Continue.” and SHARK did indeed continue videotaping the abuse.

SHARK won’t be pushed around. We know our rights; Shark is protected under the First Amendment and we will fight to do our work of saving lives and exposing animal cruelty.

See this and all the abuse that happened on the first day of the CFD on this YouTube video

• If you are not on the SHARK alert list, please sign up! We have begun our "SHAME ON CHEYENNE: Twelve Days of Rodeo Abuse - Twelve Days of Action" campaign - and we need your help!

You can sign up for our email alert list here:

Right now, we are asking everyone to focus in on CFD sponsor American Airlines. Let’s give them some hell for sponsoring a rodeo that is literally hell to animals. Ask that they withdraw their sponsorship of this brutal and cruel rodeo.

Please call:

Sean Bentel,

Manager of customer relations at American Airlines

(817) 967-2116

Mark Mitchell,

Managing director of customer experience at American Airlines

(817) 931-7523

2010-07-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

As promised, SHARK attended the Gloucester City fireworks display this past Saturday night, which was paid for by Leo Holt, the President of the Philadelphia Gun Club (for background, check out our previous blog entries).

As we have already written, Leo Holt, angered at our press release about this campaign, released a statement on a website that contained absolute false claims that we were going to disrupt the fireworks. We answered him right back, and then the Philadelphia Daily News covered the story, which you can read HERE.

Here’s part of it:

“Tonight, SHARK is planning to "educate" Gloucester City residents about Holt's hobby during the fireworks display at the city's high school, contending that he used his generosity to gain publicity.
"He gave money to put the event on, and this was a big PR win for him," said Stuart Chaifetz, a local investigator with SHARK. "He put himself out in the public, so we're here to say what else he's done."
The gun club, which dates from 1877, hosts occasional pigeon shoots at which the birds are released from spring-loaded boxes and fired upon with shotguns as they try to fly away. Hundreds are killed at the shoots, SHARK claims, and an equal number are injured.
Holt's particular offense, SHARK said, was filmed by one of the animal-rights group's members. The video shows Holt collecting pigeons from the ground after a shoot and swinging them around, trying to break their necks with his hands, or allowing two dogs to have a go at them.
To SHARK, it's nothing short of a horror flick.
"This is hard-core cruelty," he said.”

The gun club itself then jumped into the fire and sent out its own false statement, which was reported in the story:

“Holt could not be reached for comment yesterday, but in a statement supplied by the gun club's attorney, he said SHARK was part of the "self-righteous fanatic few" who planned to "disrupt and dishonor" the event.”

Holt used the same type of smear in his statement, but went further and tried to use a tragic fire that is linked to the Independence Day celebration against us. We were unaware of this incident, and we took Holt to task for bringing it up.

“Chaifetz said he wasn't aware of the tragedy initially but chastised Holt for using it to deflect attention and "incite" the residents of Gloucester City against SHARK.”

Now let’s get to what happened that night. We’ll handle this with a little question and answer time. Feel free to imagine a loud buzzer sound for each wrong answer.

In our response to Holt’s online statement, we made the following challenge:

“I invite Mr. Holt to meet me there, and to view the video in front of the public. Surely someone who can break the necks of small birds has the courage to face what he has done.

Question: Did Leo Holt, who attacked us wildly from behind his computer, have the courage to attend the fireworks and talk to us?

Answer: No (Loud buzzer). Apparently he does lack such courage.

Question: Were our people attacked by local residents for being present at this event, because of the tragic fire, which Holt tried to make an issue?

Answer: No (Loud buzzer). The fire was never brought up by anyone.

Question: Did the people of Gloucester City rise up in outrage at our presence, as Leo Holt tried to get them to?

Answer: No (Loud buzzer).

SHARK activists were at the event for two hours, gave out 300 fliers (every single one we had) and had no problems whatsoever. In fact, many of the people we spoke to were happy to learn about the Holt situation, and thanked us for sharing the info.

I recall one person telling us it was a 'sin' to kill pigeons as Holt did, and we even had a few hunters tell us they opposed pigeon shooting because it wasn't being done for food. Not everyone was against pigeon shooting, but that's to be expected. The police were great and the people were courteous. It was a very positive experience all around.

I also must say that it was gratifying to see just how many people read our flyer, so we know that the information got around, right in the town were Holt’s main business is located.

Whatever Holt was trying to stir up, didn't happen. All in all we had a really good night educating people about Holt's acts of animal cruelty, and we did it all at the very event where Holt was trying to buy some good publicity. I call this a success.

• Thanks to Dave Lambon, Marianne Bessey and Alexis Tsouris for their excellent work that night.

2010-07-01T17:31:00.000-07:00

To show you how fast and furiously events move in the SHARK world, I want to share with you what happened yesterday with our campaign to expose the cruelty that Leo Holt, the President of the Philadelphia Gun Club, committed upon a number of small, innocent pigeons.

Let’s first take a step back, however, all the way to last winter, when SHARK found out about the pigeon shoots that were happening at the gun club, and began an intense campaign against them.

On one of SHARK’s trips to the club, we captured on film a truly heinous act of brutality.

There was a man who walked along the club’s property, and picked up a number of the wounded and crippled birds that he and his fellow club members had shot but had not been killed. He bunched the pigeons together, some still alive, in his left hand, while with his right he would swing a single bird by her neck - an attempt to break it and kill her. Nearly every time he tried to do this he failed. The poor birds that survived this intense torture, went on to suffer even worse; the two dogs that were with the man lashed out at still living birds, and tore them apart.

The man who did this was Leo Holt.

Now fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. We discovered that Holt, who owns a business in Gloucester City, NJ, had given the town $15,000 to hold a Fourth of July fireworks display. Considering that he made himself a public figure, and that this was carried in the local news, we concluded that this was a fair opportunity to expose what he did to those pigeons. And so we sent out a press release saying that we would be there, with video, to show the public what Leo Holt had done.

To our surprise, Holt, upon seeing our press release, immediately wrote a statement on a local blog attacking us. Amongst other things, he said that SHARK “...vowed to be on the fringes, from where they plan to disrupt the display.”

We never said such a thing nor would we. It was a total fabrication, and it was meant to discredit us and draw the attention away from him own horrendous actions.

We found about Holt’s statement about 9 AM. By 10:30 AM, we had written our own response, which was published on the same blog. By noon we had a letter written to the Chief of Police and Mayor of Gloucester City alerting them to the false allegations made by Holt, and that we were a non-violent and peaceful organization. We even offered to meet with them if they had a problem with us attending. By 3:00 PM, our lawyer had written a “Cease and Desist” letter to Holt and that went out with a press release explaining the situation. At 4:00 PM we spoke with the Chief of Police and there were no problems with us being at the event.

SHARK fights strong, but fairly. We don’t lie and we don’t defame. And when someone does it to us, we neither take it lightly nor do we allow it to stand.

Read SHARK's press release

Read Holt's Statement

Read our response to Holt

The story was also covered HERE

Read SHARK’s "Cease and Desist" letter to Holt

Watch the video of Holt killing pigeons

2010-06-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

In the same way that our namesakes are constantly on the move throughout the oceans, SHARK fights nonstop and relentlessly against animal abuse and abusers, taking the battle to them, wherever they are.

These past two weeks SHARK has investigated rodeos in Casper, Wyoming and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Casper hosted the College National Finals Rodeo, and our documentation exposed horses being secretly shocked to make them appear wild. A week later, the Santa Fe rodeo, which involved the same stock contractor as the college rodeo finals, involved animals who were clearly injured, but who were nonetheless denied veterinary care. In fact, rodeo officials denied that the animals were injured, never mind the video documentation.

The Casper Tribune did a terrific story exposing the shocking at the college rodeo finals, and the rodeo folks helped out by talking themselves into an even deeper hole.

On June 19th, Stu Chaifetz attended National Pigeon Day in New York City, and spoke about SHARK’s efforts to end Pennsylvania’s live pigeon shoots.

We have unveiled Operation Angel, our small but growing fleet of radio-controlled aircraft that will be used to document animal abuse from the air, including pigeon shoots, cockfights, dogfights, canned hunts and other forms of abuse. We'll be talking more about this in future blogs, so stay tuned.

The point is this; we are a frontline organization action that acts first and thinks about things such as outreach and fundraising later. And while this has created an unprecedented record of victories, battles fought and groundbreaking uses of new technology to save animal lives, it has left us somewhat disconnected from the greater animal protection community. Once we’ve finished a campaign, we just move right to the next one with barely taking a breath.

As much as SHARK has already done for the cause of animals, we want to do more, much more, and that is going to require us having a greater presence online and building our membership. To that end, we have created this blog.

With this we’ll bring you in-depth news, investigative reports and stories from the SHARK universe. It is our hope that, with this new insight into SHARK and what we do, that you will want to join with us in this great rising against the most horrific acts of cruelty that man inflicts upon animalkind.

You want to fight animal abusers like no one but SHARK can? Then join us and spread the word about our websites and this blog. And we want the communication to be a two-way street, so feel free to leave a comment or write privately to us at SHARKblog@comcast.net.

SHARK may have been the hardest working animal protection group that you haven’t heard much of, but that’s all going to change. Get ready for the ride of your life.

• Check out our new videos exposing rodeo abuse.

The first is from the College National Rodeo Finals in Casper, Wyoming This got front page coverage and hit these thugs hard in their home state.

Horses Shocked at 2010 CNFR

And this is from the Rodeo in Santa Fe, New Mexico, You can see how little they care about animals, as two steer are injured and left without care.

Steers Injured at Santa Fe Rodeo

Press coverage:

ANIMAL RIGHTS ADVOCATES' VIDEO SHOWS ELECTRIC PROD USE ON HORSES

Editorial

Watch for the stunning arrival of our Angel Air Force within a couple weeks. Be one of the first to see the future of animal protection!!!