Animal rights activists arrested

February 22, 1996

The Lakeshore Weekly News (Minnetonka, MN)

By Dave Price

Minnetonka police this week arrested three people suspected of interfering with the operation of a deer trap, the latest incident in the ongoing controversy surrounding the city's herd management program.

Arrested during the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 19 were two city residents long opposed to the program. Bobbi Rudh and Mary Constantine, both highly vocal members of Minnetonkans Against Animal Cruelty. Also taken into custody was Steven Hindi, president of the Chicago Animal Rights Coalition.

A court date was pending against the trio, who are charged with getting within 100 feet of a trap, a violation of a city ordinance adopted last year to prevent tampering with the net-like structures. If convicted on the misdemeanor charges, they could be sentenced to a maximum of 90 days in jail and fined up to $700.

During a Tuesday news conference at city hall, the three defendants said they were not trying to damage the traps but instead were attempting to videotape the trap-and-shoot program in operation, a process they contend is inhumane.

Rudh and the other protesters said it's likely deer can be held in the traps for as long as 12 hours and suffer broken limbs and other injuries before they are destroyed. "We just want the people of Minnetonka to see what their tax dollar is buying them," she said.

According to Minnetonka Police Chief Richard Setter, officers say two flashlight-toting people wearing white coats and dark boots approach one of the traps, which was placed in the rear of a residential property near Hennepin County Road 7 and state Highway 101. Back-up officers were then called as the pair walked out of view.

Police arriving near the scene about 3:30 a.m. noticed a white van with Illinois license plates leaving the area. The vehicle was stopped and the surveillance officers identified Rudh and Constantine as the same people they had seen earlier, noting that footprints left in the snow near the trap also matched boots worn by the women.

Hindi was driving the van when it was stopped by police. In a search of the vehicles, officers found five videotape cameras, two-way radios and an assortment of other equipment, including a night-vision device and a radar detector.

Setter said the flashlights and the radios, which were tuned to a common frequency, were particularly indicative of possible criminal actions. "It gives me great concern that we have people walking through backyards for whatever purpose at 3:30 in the morning," he said.

While officers have been staking out several locations of the city since three deer traps were vandalized in recent days, Setter emphasized that the department is not targeting the animal rights activists. "We certainly support the right of our citizens to be involved in their city government but not to the point where it involves criminal activity," he said.

In another pre-dawn incident three weeks ago, city police stopped two vans and questioned two Minnetonka couples who allegedly had followed a truck driven by employees of the firm hired by the city to check the traps daily. No charges were filed against the four, who contended they were only meeting to have an early breakfast and were not trailing the workers.