`Pigeon Shoot' Begins Under Cloud Of Hostility
April 19, 1991
The State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL)
Kevin McDermott
Staff Writer
A controversial Canton-area "pigeon shoot" began Thursday under a cloud of hostile legislation from the state and new threats from animal-rights activists.
The 13th annual Holford's North American Flyer Championship is scheduled to run from Thursday through Sunday on the property of Donald Holford, off Illinois 78 north of Canton. The invitation-only shoot -- believed to be the largest such event in Illinois -- has live pigeons being catapulted from small cages into the waiting shotgun fire of the competitors.
About 100 shooters are expected to attend, firing on some 10,000 pigeons over the four days.
However, there were questions about whether any pigeons were shot during the first day of the event. A handful of protesters gathered just outside the property as the shooters assembled Thursday, and one activist reported later that only a few shots were heard during the afternoon.
Proponents of the sport say the pigeons are pests, collected from inhabited areas and slated for destruction anyway. Opponents contend the events are cruel and unsportsmanlike, and that the young "trapper boys" who are sent onto the field to kill any surviving pigeons could suffer psychological damage.
The state provides free licenses to private property owners to conduct the little-known sport, but outrage from animal rights activists this year has prompted a proposal to outlaw pigeon shoots in Illinois. The bill still is in committee in the House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, a Chicago-area activist who is heading the opposition to the sport says protesters will take down the license-plate numbers of vehicles arriving at the Holford shoot to identify the participants and then will inform the shooters' "home areas" about their involvement.
The controversy has its roots in Pennsylvania, where an annual pigeon shoot was disrupted by protesters last year. More than 20 people were arrested in the confrontation, including Steve Hindi, a Plano businessman who now is spear-heading the movement to get pigeon shoots banned in Illinois.
Hindi has called press conferences in Peoria and Springfield, hounded the Illinois Department of Conservation (which licenses and monitors pigeons shoots) and, most recently, appealed to the governor's office. Hindi said earlier this week he was going to be on site at the Holford shoot Thursday, and that more protesters are expected to show up at the edge of the Holford property during the weekend.
In an apparently unrelated move, two state representatives are co-sponsoring legislation to outlaw the sport. Reps. John Matijevich, D-Waukegan, and E.J. "Zeke" Giorgi, D-Rockford, began putting the proposal together more than a month ago, at the request of animal-rights activists in that area.
Citing fears of a melee like last year's Pennsylvania incident, the Department of Conservation has agreed to have officers from its law enforcement wing available for duty during the four days of the shoot, in case local authorities need a backup. Participants pay a fee to enter the event and compete for various cash prizes.
