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.

Lanternfly hysteria is over-hyped fearmongering

Letter as published on NY Daily News
September 19, 2023

Manhattan: Why print the letter from Voicer Avion Henry that bizarrely states that spotted lanternflies “have some nerve to exist where we do”?

The lanternfly hysteria is over-hyped fearmongering by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Cornell University reports that lanternflies are harmless to people and most trees, and prefer feeding on tree of heaven shrubs, which are classified as an invasive species. The DEC eagerly okays the ruin of thousands of acres of trees, leading to a destructive chain reaction harming multiple species of plants, animals and insects.

The DEC has loudly advocated for the destruction of hundreds of acres of trees to make way for more malls, etc. — many of which now sit empty and abandoned.

Furthermore, the DEC should not be urging adults and children to kill anything, ever. If the department thinks this insect is so horrifying, its employees should go and kill them. They get enough taxpayer funds to do so.

The shameful DEC is supposed to be an advocate for nature and the environment, yet its staff members are, in fact, paid agents of hunting and and slaughter.

And with the DEC spreading supposed hyper-imminent emergency alerts telling adults and even children to randomly kill these colorful insects, how many butterflies, caterpillars, lady bugs (yes, the same ones Voicer Henry loves), baby birds, etc. will be stomped to death in the confusion and supposedly urgent need to kill them all? 

Grace Luntz 

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