Animal-Rights Activists Arrested for Protesting Annual Pigeon Shoot
About 100 animal-rights activists were arrested Monday at an annual pigeon shoot as they heckled participants and ran onto a firing range to free the birds.
About 1,500 protesters in a crowd of more than 12,000 cheered when birds escaped during the Fred Coleman Memorial Shoot, which raises money for area parks and is named for a local marksman.
“This kind of gratuitous violence is sick, just like pulling the wings off of flies is sick,” said Steve Hindi of Plano, Ill.
Supporters said the 59-year-old shoot, using live birds released one at a time from cages, is a tradition that also gets rid of thousands of disease-spreading pests. About 250 shooters attended.
State police Sgt. Richard Morris said there were 112 arrests, including several non-protesters. Protesters attended from around the nation and Europe.
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