Stop Hunting
Campaigns From Animal Defenders of Westchester (ADOW)

We advocate on all animal protection and exploitation issues, including experimentation, factory farming, rodeos, breeders and traveling animal acts.

Humane Groups, Wildlife Advocates Meet with NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation

July 24, 2025

On Thursday, June 26, 2025 Representatives of Humane Advocacy groups and Wildlife Rescues held a first-ever meeting with Representatives of the NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). Such a meeting was long-overdue, especially since the recent nation-wide outrage over the DEC's involvement with the killing of animals at an upstate animal rescue.

Some of the topics we covered were:

• The avoidable killing of a bear cub in Harrison, NY in June, which was widely criticized and denounced;
• The annual Pheasant Hunt, where baby birds are hand-raised by people, then released in a 'canned hunt'-which the DEC called a 'training tool';
• Allowing hunting in Wildlife Refuges;
• The need for the DEC to patrol and fine violators who dump fishing trash in public parks, which injures and kills wildlife and other victims of this illegal activity;
• Challenging trapping in NYS;
• Getting a non-hunter on the DEC advisory board, which is currently staffed, by law, with hunters only, guaranteeing a lethal outcome for wildlife - tho hunting is in fact a tiny fraction of public activities. This same issue is being fought all over the country, most recently via a lawsuit in New Jersey.

This was the first of what will be ongoing meetings with the DEC. We'd like to thank Representatives of Wildlife Watch, Humane Long Island, League of Humane Voters/NY, NY4Wildlife, They All Want to Live, The Lights Out Coalition and The Swan Squad for their amazing and invaluable contribution to this meeting. Together we were able to contradict and challenge the DEC's self-serving stranglehold on the treatment of our wildlife in NYS. The agencies governing our wildlife are based on laws enacted almost 100 yrs ago; it's time for a change.

~~Animal Defenders of Westchester

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