CASH Courier > 2005
Spring Issue
Selected Articles from our
newsletter
The C.A.S.H. Courier
WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO:
IN WESTERN NEW YORK
Wildlife Watch together with Animal Advocates of Western NY, and the
League of Humane Voters, has been focused on the Buffalo, NY suburbs of
Cheektowaga, North Tonawanda, and Amherst to stop the “bait and shoot”
programs. They have been occurring ostensibly because of the perceived deer
overpopulation.
We most recently gave a presentation to the supervisor and town council
of Cheektowaga. From the responses of the town council and the parks
commissioner it became clear that they had already decided on a bait and
shoot program. They went through the motions of listening and being
fair-minded, and it was a very disappointing realization for all of us. Sure
enough, our intuition was verified when they announced their decision to
engage in a bait and shoot program. Cynically, they cited Wildlife Watch as
one of the groups they had consulted in making their decision! Killing flew
in the face of all we had recommended.
A skeptical group of animal advocates listen to the perfunctory blather
from the Parks Director, John Jaroszewski, Jr. trying to justify the
decision to proceed with the bait & shoot.
Left to right: Jennifer Manka (Animal Advocates of Western NY - AAWNY and
League of Humane Voters - LOHV) Peter Muller (Wildlife Watch-WW and LOHV)
Jeffery Termini (LOHV)
More skeptics as the Parks Director drones on:
Left to Right: Parks
Director, Valerie Will (Immediate Past President AAWNY) Peter Muller (WW and
LOHV), and Frank Gottesman (LOHV).
We all pointed out the lack of efficacy, the needless expense, and the
cruelty of the “bait & shoot” wherever it has been tried. Jennifer Manka,
who is on the Deer Committee of Amherst, an adjoining suburb of Cheektowaga,
reported that even though Amherst has had a “bait & shoot” program for
several years the deer car collisions have in fact increased and not been
reduced.
A week after this meeting, Jeff Termini of LOHV served the town of
Cheektowaga with a Notice of Dangerous Condition. This coincided with a
media report that a stray bullet from a “bait & shoot” operation in
neighboring Amherst had hit a resident’s house. There was a lot of media
focused on the stray bullet, the Notice of Dangerous Condition, and the
exposure to potential liability judgments that the town was risking by
undertaking “bait and shoot” (mis)management.
All photos by Randy Atlas (President of Animal Advocates of Western New
York)
Return to Spring 2005
Issue
|
