An Ontario Fair's "Pigeon Bowling" Game Is Getting Called Out For Animal Cruelty (VIDEO)
An Ontario fair is coming under fire over its bizarre "pigeon bowling" activity. The Harrow Fair, which is held annually in Essex County, is being accused of animal cruelty after a Facebook video taken at the fair went viral. The video showed people taking turns bowling with pigeons, a.k.a. rolling pigeons on the ground for sport.
This article contains graphic content that might not be suitable for some readers.
“Pigeon Bowling. Just one of the many inhumane activities the Harrow Fair puts on each year. More f—k up activities to come,” wrote Jo Bulm, who posted the video. Bulm added in the same post that the clip “is a call to action,” encouraging people to call the fair and demand that this cruel game is stopped.
Global News reported that Bulm called the fair the next day. However, she claims she hung up on as soon as she mentioned the word “pigeon”. Other activists reportedly faced a similar problem when trying to make their own complaints.
Fair president Luke Korcok has since come to the defence of the activity, insisting that it does not hurt the birds and there is no intention to harm them. “We all love those birds,” he said during an interview with the news outlet. “None of us would like to see the pigeons get hurt.”
To win at pigeon bowling, also known as Parlour Tumblers, a contestant bowls a bird and is judged on the distance that it travels as well as the total number of somersaults it makes during the toss. Despite its name, the pigeons aren’t actually rolled into pins like in traditional bowling.
“Rollers are a special breed of pigeon that are known for their acrobatic abilities. They are the bowling balls of the avian world. Also known as Parlour Tumblers, these pigeons make their way through life not by flying (they can’t!), but by somersaulting on the ground,” a description on Harrow’s Fair website reads.
Korcok said there are no plans currently in place to ban the game.