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If doves are sitting on or flying near power lines, please don’t shoot. That was the request issued Monday by Firefly Fiber Broadband. As Monday was Labor Day, it also opened this year’s dove season in Virginia and the company hopes to avoid the problems that popped up in multiple counties last year. 

As we reported last September, in multiple incidents, Firefly Fiber officials said hunters attempted to shoot doves perched on or near a power line. They missed, hitting the fiber optic casing instead. During the first segment of dove season, which ran from Sept. 2 to Oct. 22, 2023, Firefly officials say their fiber optic cable was damaged in Appomattox, Buckingham, Cumberland and parts of Powhatan counties. 

For example, just counting Labor Day 2023, Firefly’s fiber optic cable was damaged in six localities from birdshot, resulting in internet and phone outages for thousands of customers and a hefty bill for Firefly. Since then, company officials point out, the footprint has expanded, with more customers added. But that also means more fiber optic cables in places where they can be a target. 

Firefly Fiber acknowledges this takes time

The problem is that the new fiber optic cables were set up on electric poles, running adjacent to and underneath the electric lines. The actual optical fibers are protected by glass tubing, which shatters on impact when shot and disrupts both internet and phone. And so, as this year’s first round of dove season opened on Monday, Sept. 2, Firefly officials are asking hunters to avoid targeting the lines. 

Firefly CEO Gary Wood says he understands this is a new thing that hunters have to adjust to. But every time one of these casings get hit, you run the risk of internet in the area going down for hours while the problem gets fixed.  

“Damage to fiber during dove hunting season is a new phenomenon for Firefly and for local hunters,” Wood said. “These folks have been hunting the same land for years and rarely caused damage by shooting at doves on the power lines. However, the landscape has changed over the past few years and there is now fiber just beneath the power lines that is susceptible to birdshot.” 

Shooting at power lines is illegal

Now there’s one more problem to mention. Technically, the act itself is illegal. By that, we mean shooting at power lines can lead to charges. Section 8, Article 18.2-153 of the Virginia Code states that any injury or damage done to “any lines of any electric power company” can lead to Class 6 felony charges. That means hunters simply aiming at a bird and missing, as the Code includes incidents “committed unlawfully, but not maliciously.”