Press Releases
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.

Animal Advocates to attend Deer 'Mgmt' Meeting

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 30, 3015

CONTACT:
Kiley Blackman
[email protected]
www.adow.org

While some citizens struggle to get by, affluent Westchesterites want lethal controls for their gardens.

Animal Defenders of Westchester (ADOW) and other animal advocacy organizations will be attending the 'Deer Mgmt in Suburbia' meeting at County Center in White Plains, on April 30, 2015.  This is an all-day meeting, paid for with taxpayer money; the public will be allowed to speak from 11:35 a.m. till noon, and from 3:45 till 4:15 p.m.  

This event describes how to get rid of deer - either by lethal methods, birth control, fencing and plant choices.  Speakers include several members of the USDA/Wildlife Services and its licensing agent the DEC, both of which favor slaughter and are being audited by the Inspector General due to rising complaints from the public and politicians.  Wildlife Services  was just terminated by Mendocino County, CA after activist complaints about their methods, followed by a lawsuit; both Marin and Sonoma Counties had previously discontinued them in 2013.  

ADOW will be presenting to Teatown Executive Director Kevin Carter a petition containing over 2000 signatures protesting the slaughter of deer at the Teatown Nature 'Preserve.'  This slaughter, or 'cull' as is termed, was done to the dismay of several board members and to the alarm of the community at large; a lawsuit against Teatown's deer slaughter is still pending in court.

https://www.change.org/p/kevin-carter-teatown-nature-preserve-stop-the-deer-slaughter

Kiley Blackman, founder of ADOW and author of the petition, said, "The DEC methods actually deliberately increase the deer population, because they are funded through sales of hunting licenses which are their 'cash cow,' and have an incentive to manipulate deer numbers.

"This event is shameful. There are 600 registered sex offenders here - but Westchester wouldn't dare hold a 'We hate sex offenders' event; they wouldn't hold a 'We hate HUD' event though that was a long, drawn-out, highly controversial issue here...but they disgracefully target resident deer for scorn and ridicule, because they can't speak, can't defend themselves and have few rights.

"Director of Conservation John Baker has stated he wants to expand hunting here, despite opposition and requests for non-lethal alternatives.

"This is coming out of moneyed residents of Rye and Mamaroneck who only have to worry about their gardens; in other cities where residents are struggling to get by, the last thing they're worried about is deer.

"Wildlife faces apathy, ignorance, habitat destruction and urban sprawl. Westchester just made their life harder. Urging people to hate wildlife is the worst kind of propaganda; over the next few weeks we will be compiling data about Wildlife Services activity here, with an eye toward getting them out." 

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