TV icon and animal champion Bob Barker donated $1 million to SHARK (Showing Animals Respect and Kindness) to help fight pigeon shoots in PA. Not only is Barker opening his wallet, he also plans to participate in protests held outside a Bensalem gun club where shoots are regularly held and he will support current legislation in the House and Senate that would call for a ban of live pigeon targets. The law would also criminalize the organization and operation of live pigeon shoots.

Pigeon shoots only occur regularly in PA, most of them at private gun clubs. In the contests, traps containing live pigeons are lined up in front of the competitor. The traps open in random order and the birds are fired upon, at close range, as they try to flee. The Humane Society estimates that 70% of the pigeons are not killed immediately, rather they are wounded and left to suffer. After each round, participants scour the field for the wounded and dead birds. If a bird is still alive, they are put out of their misery with a neck snap or head bash and then thrown into a barrel full of pigeon carcasses.

Bob Barker has been a vegetarian and animal rights advocate since 1979.