Activists step up protest of pigeon shoot

Saturday, March 23, 1991

PEORIA JOURNAL STAR

By ELAINE HOPKINS

Animal rights activists on Friday turned up the heat on the upcoming fulton county pigeon shoot by showing a video of a similar event in Pennsylvania and urging the public to contact lawmakers about ending the shoots.

Steve Hindi, 36, a Chicago-area activist organising against the shoot, was joined at a press conference by Teri Kidd of the Peoria group Citizens for Animal Rights. that group hopes to get 100 local people to protest the pigeon shoot, Kidd said, with others coming from out of town.

The shoot, believed to be the largest in Illinois is scheduled for april 18-21 at Donald Holford’s Gun Club off Illinois Route 78, two miles north of Canton.

National animal rights groups are concerned about the event, Hindi said. The largest group, the Humane Society of the United States with 1.2 million members, is calling for Illinois to outlaw pigeon shoots.

Hindi and Kidd assailed the shooting as “animal abuse” that should have been banned years ago. The video showed pigeons being shot after their release from boxes.

Hindi said one out of 10 pigeons escapes from the shoots, two out of 10 are killed instantly by the blasts from shotguns and seven of 10 are wounded and suffer pain.

Even if the estimated 10,000 pigeons used at the event have been t rapped elsewhere as pests, Hindi said, they should be killed quickly and humanely.

Calling the pigeon shooters “cowards,” Hindi said, “This is not sport, this is not pest control, this is not hunting. So what is it?”

Hindi also criticised the Illinois Department of Conservation which has turned down his freedom of Information Act request for a list of Illinois pigeon shoot locations and dates. he said his lawyer will appeal the agency’s decision in court.

About 18 to 25 pigeon shoot permits are issued annually, said Terry Musser, the conservation department’s program manager for controlled hunting. The shoots are held only on private property.

Citizens who object to these shoots should urge the governor and their legislators to make the events illegal, Hindi said. he will seek a meeting with the governor, he said.

Clergy in the Canton area will be asked to take a stand on the pigeon shoot, Hindi said, “What are these shepherds of their flocks doing?” he asked. “Are these not God’s creatures?”

Hindi said he invited Holford to attend Friday’s press conference, but Holford did not appear. He has refused to comment on the pigeon shoot, which has been held annually at his farm for a dozen year.

Paul Homer, a Spring Bay gunsmith who has attended Holford’s pigeon shoots in t eh past, also was invited but did not attend. On Thursday, Homer released a statement saying his gun shop has been harassed by members of the animal rights group PETA. That group listed the shop’s phone number on a national action line.

The name, Paul’s Gun Shop, and its telephone number are mentioned on Holford’s pigeon shoot brochure. The shop received so many harassing phone calls that it began to route calls through an answering machine.

In his statement, Homer blasted the activists and questioned their motives and knowledge about wildlife. People involved in firearms shooting pay a special excise tax for wildlife restoration, he said. Holford’s tournament will contribute about $350 to this fun, he said.

The larger issue involved freedom, he said. “Because one person doesn’t choose to engage in an activity by no means gives that person the right to curtail any other American’s right to engage in that activity,” he wrote.