Dancers protest dove bill
DES MOINES Clad in filmy white costumes and handing out feathers and chocolate hearts to passers-by, girls from a Fairfield, Iowa, dance class performed Monday in the State Capitol to protest legislation that would allow dove hunting.
Five students from the Isadora Dance School, ranging in age from 10 to 13, perched outside the Iowa Senate with protest signs that exhorted lawmakers to "Hunt Something Your Own Size" and asked them to consider "What message does this give to children?" They also performed the dance "Wings of the Doves."
The Iowa Senate is likely to begin discussion this week of legislation that would end the state's 83-year-old ban on hunting mourning doves.The bill would allow the Iowa Natural Resources Commission to decide whether to approve a hunting season.
Briani Carey, 10, of Fairfield, said she doesn't think doves should be killed "because they're peaceful and they don't do anything wrong."Some lawmakers told the girls the white doves that symbolize peace do not live in Iowa. But Briani wasn't convinced.
"I say all doves stand for peace," she said.
The girls' dance teacher, Rebecca Bachar, said the students recently formed a group called the Rainforest Club and decided to take on the dove lobbying effort as their first project.
"Children just normally, naturally are against any kind of violence, hunting or shooting," she said.
Backers of dove hunting have used attire to get lawmakers' attention, too.
