Activist fails to sway conservation officials
March 29, 1991
The Journal Star (Peoria, IL)
By Toby Eckert
Springfield – Animal rights activists didn't get much out of their visit to the Department of Conservation Thursday, saying state officials aren't concerned about their efforts to stop live pigeon shoots.
"You're not taking us seriously," Steve Hindi, an activist from Plano, complained to a spokeswoman for the department.
Nonetheless, Hindi stopped up his efforts to get state officials to take notice of his protest. He sent a letter to Gov. Jim Edgar requesting a meeting, and said he would push for legislation outlawing live pigeon shoots.
Hindi is organizing a demonstration at a private gun club near Canton that plans to hold a shoot in April. He came to the capital Thursday to confront a Conservation Department official over the department's policy of issuing permits for the shoots.
The official – Terry Musser, who oversees controlled hunting – wasn't in his office, so Hindi and his brother, Greg, confronted department spokesperson Carol Knowles.
For about 20 minutes, the Hindis lectured Knowles on what they consider to be the immorality of the shoots and pressed Knowles for her opinion on the matter.
The Hindis then went to another DOC office and talked with John Tranquilli, director of the department's resource management division.
Tranquilli said some department officials sympathize with Hindi's cause and have drawn up an issue paper saying the department shouldn't be regulating pigeon shoots.
"We feel that pigeon shoots don't reflect the department's philosophy and shouldn't be part of its mission," Tranquilli said.
The paper will be sent to G. Brent Manning, the new conservation director. Still, Tranquilli said, "There's no way we could stop" the pigeon shoots.
Manning indicated Wednesday that he won't change department rules on the shoots as long as they are legal.
In his letter to Edgar, Hindi warned that Illinois officials could face a situation like the one Pennsylvania officials found themselves in last year. Protests erupted over pigeon shoots there, leading to the arrest of 27 activists.
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