Activists protest shoot

Most pigeon shoot protesters prefer carrying placards to shouting at hunters

April 21, 1991

The Journal Star (Peoria, IL)

By Mark Butzow

CANTON – About three dozen animal rights activists turned out to protest a pigeon shoot north of here Saturday, and while they shared a common goal, not all the demonstrators agreed on the best way to proceed.

Most of the protesters marched along Illinois Route 78 near Donald Holford's gun club, showing passing motorists signs with statements such as, "This is not sport, it's slaughter," "Respect All Life" and "The Real Pests Are Behind The Guns."

Nearby, a smaller, more vocal group spent its time closer to the property line, shouting insults at the hunters and at people arriving in their cars for the event. Steve Hindi of Plano and his brother have been outside protesting the event since Thursday. It ends today.

"My strategy is simply to ruin their day, to ruin their fun as much as possible," said Greg Hindi of Carol Stream. "What I know is happening behind there outrages me."

In a pigeon shoot, captive birds are released into the air on command from a shooter at a prescribed distance. The shooter then opens fire.

Hindi and his brother kept up a steady barrage of verbal artillery all morning Saturday, and were joined in the after noon by a few vocal protesters who brought bullhorns.

Most of the protesters, however, let their placards to the talking.

"What you're seeing here with the shouting is not representative of the way others of us would get the issue before the public or the press," said Margaret Asproyerakas, Chicago coordinator for Cleveland Amory's Fund for Animals.

"Many times, the press will focus on the most radical, so we are depicted to the public as being hysterical, very radical and confrontational. To be depicted as kooks is not fair, it's not a fair representation."

Asproyerakas acknowledged a confrontational approach works sometimes, but said she feels a moderate stance is better.

The Hindi brothers seemed to invite a confrontation, but to no avail. No arrests or violence occurred, said spokesman for the Fulton County sheriff's department.

Sheriff's deputies moved demonstrators back from the highway's edge a few times, but Sheriff Dan Daly said the protest was no trouble at all.

"A little bit vocal, but we can take a lot of that," he said.

The hunters and the contest organizer were not at all vocal. Reporters attempting to enter the Gun Club were turned back by employees who said no one would comment, and only shooters who paid for the right to shoot on Holford's property would be allowed in.

Holford's pigeon shoot is considered the largest of about 25 such contests held each year in Illinois. He has held the four-day, private pigeon shoot on his farm for a dozen years without incident, but animals rights activists say they'll fight to outlaw the practice.

"It's absolutely going to stop, I'm convinced of that," Franz Dantzler, regional director of the Humane Society, said.