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SHARK catches U.S. Senator James “Global warming is a hoax” Inhofe on video hosting a pigeon-blasting fundraiser

September 23, 2014 By Merritt Clifton

Inhofe

(From SHARK video.)

Other participants were shown kicking wounded birds 

        OKLAHOMA CITY––Showing Animals Respect & Kindness, of Chicago, better known as SHARK, on September 22, 2014 posted to web sites undercover video of senior Oklahoma U.S. Senator James Inhofe, 79, hosting a fundraising pigeon shoot 17 days earlier at the Quartz Mountain Lodge in Lone Wolf, Oklahoma.

Inhofe was himself videotaped in the act of shooting at pigeons. Other participants were shown throwing banded captive-raised pigeons into the air to be shot, kicking wounded birds, and throwing them up to be shot again.

The event, billed as Inhofe’s ninth annual “pigeon hunt,” was to benefit “Friends of Jim Inhofe and the Fund For A Conservative Future.”

The Oklahoma City television station KFOR posted links to the eight-minute SHARK video, with coverage by staff reporter Sarah Stewart, at the top of the 10 p.m. news o n September 22. Furious messages from constituents were prominent on Inhofe’s Facebook pages by midnight.

Trump & Inhofe

Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe hosts an annual fundraising dove shoot. See Trump booster Inhofe to host live pigeon shoot & dove hunt for details.  (Beth Clifton collage)

Tipped by Inhofe backer

“On August 7, 2014,” recounted SHARK founder Steve Hindi, “Showing Animals Respect and Kindness received an anonymous letter informing us that Inhofe was to have a live pigeon shoot. The unknown writer claimed to be a Republican and longtime supporter of Senator Inhofe. The writer stated that ‘The live pigeon shoot event is an embarrassment to hunters and to Republican (sic) supporters of Senator Inhofe. Someone, including Senator Inhofe, has apparently decided to push the limits beyond what is reasonable in most anyone’s mind, and I believe it has been done just to provide shock value and show the public that Senator Inhofe is such a hard-core conservative that he will go as far as killing animals for no other reason than shooting practice, which is simply animal cruelty.’”

U.S. Senator James Inhofe (inset) and SHARK founder Steve Hindi. (SHARK)

U.S. Senator James Inhofe (inset) and SHARK founder Steve Hindi. (SHARK photo)

Hindi told Stewart of KFOR that the unidentified undercover videographer bought a ticket to attend the fundraiser. Hindi, himself a longtime Republican and onetime Republican Congressional candidate, informed Animals 24-7 of the existence of the undercover video on September 14,   2014, but asked that it be kept under embargo until the raw footage of hours of shooting could be edited for presentation to mass media.

“It was just a killing contest, just a blood festival,” Hindi told Stewart. “It’s pretty bad. I mean a thousand pigeons casually blasted for entertainment. It’s just an utter waste of life, an awful lot of suffering.”

In addition to the pigeon shooting itself, the SHARK undercover operative caught Inhofe campaign staffer Gregory Russell Appleton claiming on video that the dead pigeons were being collected to feed to homeless people in nearby Altus,  Oklahoma.  As Hindi pointed out in a voiceover segment, federal and state law require that meat distributed for human consumption must come from animals killed in licensed slaughterhouses and killed under the supervision of government inspectors.

Bill John Baker

Cherokee principal chief Bill John Baker’s car. (SHARK photo)

Chief attended

The SHARK undercover operation also videotaped the presence of a car emblazoned with the name and title of Cherokee Nation principal chief Bill John Baker, Oklahoma game wardens––although captive-bred pigeons are not wildlife––and state police who appeared to be providing security for the event.

Reported Stewart, “We called and e-mailed Inhofe’s office, but did not get a response.”

A former mayor of Tulsa and Oklahoma member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Inhofe has held a U.S. Senate seat since 1994. As chair of the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works during the U.S. presidential administration of George W. Bush, 2003-2007, and as ranking member of the United States Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, Inhofe may be best known for obstructing legislation meant to slow climate change, arguing that global warming is a hoax,  pushing for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and to expand offshore oil and gas drilling.

Sponsors of Inhofe’s 2014 annual pigeon shoot.

Oil & gas

Inhofe’s biggest campaign funders are associated with the oil and gas industries, but he has also reportedly accepted at least $51,000 in campaign financing from the National Rifle Association during his long career.

Frequently Inhofe has opposed introducing or expanding protection for endangered and threatened species, including polar bears, prairie dogs, sage grouse, and wolves. Inhofe has backed numerous Republican attempts to weaken the Endangered Species Act, and in 2008 assailed what he termed use of the Endangered Species Act on behalf of polar bears to “achieve global warming policy that special interest groups cannot otherwise achieve through the legislative process.”

Poster for U.S. Senator James Inhofe's pigeon shoot.

Poster for U.S. Senator James Inhofe’s pigeon shoot.

In 2006 Inhofe won passage of the Animal Enterprise Protection Act, extending to animal industry workers the provisions of the 1982 Animal Enterprise Protection Act,  which covered only property. As originally drafted, AETA appeared to present a significant risk to the civil liberties of animal advocates. As amended prior to passage by California Senator Diane Feinstein, however, it is chiefly a consolidated sentencing act, and does not criminalize anything that was not already a crime.

SHARK founder Hindi, ironically, was among the few people prominent in animal protection who spoke in favor of AETA.

Beth & Merritt Clifton

Beth & Merritt Clifton.
(Geoff Geiger photo)

“I read the bill carefully,”  Hindi said,  “and since everything we do is legal,” albeit often tactically aggressive,  “I don’t see where any of it applies to SHARK.”

In January 2014 Inhofe tried to amend the Farm Bill to repeal a provision prohibiting the USDA from inspecting horses slaughtered for human consumption.

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Filed Under: Birds, Culture & Animals, Entertainment, Hunting & trapping, Hunting practices, Killing contests, Wildlife Tagged With: James Inhofe, Steve Hindi

Comments

  1. Peter says

    September 23, 2014 at 9:06 am

    Inhofe is a wolf killer too.

  2. BC says

    September 23, 2014 at 9:24 am

    Sick and Cruel- these are men who think they are kings and draw a sick pervision of death and destruction. Sociopaths.

  3. A.L.F. Kuba says

    September 23, 2014 at 3:35 pm

    Great job Steve Hindi and his organization. It is very courageous and admirable what all of you at SHARK do, you are the true heroes, fighting for those who are abused by human scum.

  4. SAI Sanctuary says

    September 23, 2014 at 3:46 pm

    This man is one horrific ass – no offense meant to the donkey.

    Pamela Gale Malhotra – Trustee
    SAI (Save Animals Initiative) Sanctuary Trust
    Theralu Village & Post,
    South Kodagu District, Karnataka
    India 571249
    Tel: (in Sanctuary) +91-8274-238022/036
    Wireless: 9341975527
    Email: saisanctuary@gmail.com
    Website: http://www.saisanctuary.com
    Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/SAIsanctuary

  5. D C Harris says

    September 23, 2014 at 4:05 pm

    And yet, term after term after term, Inhofe gets returned to the obstructionist U.S. Senate by uneducated, ill-advised, staunchly-against-everything Oklahomans who are too scared of their own shadow to even WANT to think there’s any other way other than “Inhofe’s Way”. What a sad, sad state.

  6. Jamaka Petzak says

    September 23, 2014 at 5:56 pm

    Sorry to say I know people who do this. They are polite, considerate and intelligent — but IMHO there is something within those who do this that relates to unresolved anger, frustration, and perhaps feelings of inadequacy on some level. I’m no expert, but I’ve always believed that the strongest and most “whole” human beings are those who truly have and practice respect, tolerance, kindness, and compassion for others — no matter what species those others are. My own Indigenous ancestors particularly hunted in order to survive; and contrary to the romanticized versions of the truth, they were individuals and human beings with the same character flaws as any others, but our people did teach respect for other living beings, and to be grateful for the help they gave us in survival by “giving” their lives so that we could eat and live. Sadly, I do not see this respect and gratefulness in these times among many of us, who have perhaps forgotten, or become detached from, our spirituality.

  7. David Bernazani says

    September 25, 2014 at 5:32 am

    Inhofe and his gang of “good ol’ boy” thugs are a disgrace to Oklahoma. I can’t believe he’s been a politician for so long. I hope this is a sign that people are waking up and will kick him out at the next election. What a scumbag.

  8. Matt Silverstein says

    September 26, 2014 at 4:41 am

    The video I saw yesterday of Sen. Inhofe’s fundraiser where they kill hundreds pigeons for fun was nauseating. It has nothing to do with the 2nd Amendment, which I support, and it certainly has nothing to do with hunting, which I also support. In fact, every hunter I know expressed outrage and disgust at this event.

    What is also despicable is how the campaign lied on video about feeding dead pigeon to the homeless !!

    They tried to walk it back by saying it’s a “traditional shooting sport” apparently back in the “1900 Olympics.” Even in 1900 the Olympic Committee realized it was primitive and wrong which is why it never returned after 1900.

    This is tasteless and out of touch with Oklahomans, including hunters. He doesn’t have the time to debate even though Rep. Lankford and Gov. Fallin are debating but he has time for this?

    • Merritt Clifton says

      September 26, 2014 at 4:46 am

      Matt Silverstein, a Democrat, is running against James Inhofe, a Republican, for U.S. Senator from Oklahoma.

  9. Clova Abrahamson says

    September 26, 2014 at 3:43 pm

    23 states have specific laws or judicial rulings prohibiting pigeon shoots. Thus, the events are obviously objectional to a wide spectrum of people. Outside of Pennsylvania, the events are not common.

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