Three rights activists arrested near deer trap
Three rights activists arrested near deer trap
Wednesday, February 21, 1996
The Pioneer Press (St. Paul, MN)
By Chip Johnson
Minnetonka police arrested three people – one of them an Illinois man who documents animal rights abuses – for breaking a deer control ordinance, authorities said Tuesday.
Bobbi Rudh, 47, and Cecilia Mary Constantine, 59, both of Minnetonka, and Steve Hindi, 41, of the Chicago area, are charged with violating the law by walking within 100 feet of a deer trap.
Rudh is president of Minnetonkans Against Cruelty, and Constantine is a member. The group contends the city's trap and shoot policy for controlling the deer population is cruel to the animals.
Hindi was hired by the animal rights activists to document the practice.
All three were arrested Monday around 3:20 a.m. after leaving a residence in the 18600 block of Ridgewood Road. Police say they spotted the three near a trap during a stakeout at the location.
Police confiscated cameras equipped with night vision capabilities, sophisticated audio and video equipment, battery packs and other items.
Hindi is not shy about the arrest or his reasons for coming to Minnetonka.
"I'm not making any bones about it. I didn't come here on a holiday," Hindi said in a phone interview Tuesday.
But Minnetonka Police Chief Richard Setter has no intention of providing any comfort to Hindi or the group. Setter referred to Hindi, who has been arrested for similar activities in Pennsylvania and Illinois as a criminal.
City officials and activists can't agree on how many deer inhabit the area. Officials say their county turned up more than 600 deer. Rudh says her group spent $3,000 to conduct an infrared scan of the entire city and counted just 300 deer. They estimate that 100 already have been destroyed.
"These people are operating with all the integrity of drug dealers or child molesters, and we are going to catch them if they keep it up," Hindi said.
The three suspects have been released from jail. If convicted, each faces a fine of up to $700 and up to 90 days in jail.
