WHITE BUFFALO KILLS DEER IN SOLON, OHIO
WHITE BUFFALO, INC.
BY LANE FERRANTE
Last October, an article from the local paper came to my attention.
Solon, Ohio, had hired a firm named “White Buffalo” to come to the City
to slaughter 600 deer. City officials claimed that “something had to be
done” because the deer were eating people’s tulips!! They asked
residents to volunteer their property for the hitmen to come in everyday
for a month from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m. We were told they would be shooting
downward only from tree stands to ensure public safety. Anthony DeNicola,
President of White Buffalo, stated that his bullets did not ricochet.
The Chief of Police confirmed this.
We learned that an ordinance was passed on the sly to allow for the
barbaric captive bolt. People had risen up in great protest the previous
year against the use of the captive bolt and the council then agreed not
to allow it. Now, a second ordinance passed that ensured
Mr. DeNicola and his hitmen “complete control of the population” as
he put it.
Any interference would bring an arrest of a third degree misdemeanor.
The police were to escort the hitmen to the kill-sites each day to
ensure that no one would interfere. The taxpayers would be paying large
sums of money for the police to work overtime in order to protect this
mercenary. The mayor stated that the venison would go to hunger centers
so “some good” would come from this massacre. Yes indeed, Solon’s
officials are quite the humanitarians! When I learned of this plan of
genocide, I knew I had to do something. I felt morally obligated. I
found two people who felt as I did, and the three of us began to work
together to stop this. I had no idea that the deer issue was one of the
hardest of them all. Deer slaughtering is a business. It provides jobs
and brings in thousands of dollars every year. In addition, I was
fighting a huge political machine.
The three of us stood strong, forged ahead, and organized a meeting
for the residents at the public library. It was a success! The room was
quickly filled to capacity and people had to be turned away. The police
were there with the K-9 unit, every TV station as well as reporters from
three newspapers showed. Steve Hindi, President of SHARK, came and
showed his video of how “humanely” White Buffalo performed their job.
Those nightmarish images and sounds will be burned into my brain
forever. There it was, in black and white, for the world to see; White
Buffalo shooting deer and then placing plastic bags over their heads to
suffocate them when the bullets didn’t do the job. The rocket nets and
captive bolt came next. The steel spike kept missing their targets and
connected in their eyes, ears, etc. as they thrashed about. When the
volume was turned up you could hear their screaming.
At one point, a councilman’s wife chuckled and asked if we would be
serving popcorn at this movie.
After the video, we spoke to the residents about the compensatory
rebound effect [when a deer population suddenly crashes, there are more
births than usual the following spring], the safety issues, the waste of
taxpayers’ money ($500,000 had been allocated), and non-lethal
solutions. An open mike session followed and the residents demanded to
speak to a council member. He, however, was in the hallway where he was
verbally attacking Mr. Hindi and Solon’s deer protectors. This council
member refused to speak to his constituents, and told us arrogantly that
it didn’t matter what we did, the deer were going to die!
That night and the next day it was splashed all over the news. The
controversy had begun. Still being naive at that time, I was sure we had
accomplished our goal. I believed that now that everyone knew the truth
about this horrific plan, it wouldn’t go through. This was, after all,
the 21st century. We gained more soldiers for our army and proceeded to
go to every council meeting, write letters, educate the public, and hand
out flyers in front of stores. We made contact with wonderful Nancy
Bowman, head of the Princeton Deer Alliance. She became our mentor and
advisor since she had already had four years’ experience with White
Buffalo and the local government there. When the killings began, I
started to see a pattern emerge. It was the DeNicola blueprint.
Everything that had occurred in Princeton was happening in Solon.
Exactly!!
Play-by-play.
We wanted to monitor White Buffalo’s actions so we video-taped at
some of the kill-sites when we could find out where they were.
Everything was shrouded in secrecy. Neighbors living next door to
kill-sites were told they would be notified 24 hours before it began.
I believe that only happened the first day. Neighbors were pitted
against each other. Children saw the deer being dragged along the ground
after they were killed. We witnessed White Buffalo shooting laterally
from someone’s deck in a densely populated development. We witnessed
White Buffalo sitting in a tree with a military grade rifle as the
school bus came down the street. We saw them shoot and miss. Yet David
Klunzinger, head of Public Works, was quoted in the paper as saying,
“Tony never misses.” Another time we heard gunshots and a few seconds
later saw children go into the area and then heard screaming. We filed a
law-suit and lost. We came up against many roadblocks, but we persevered
then and we will not quit now.
By March the bloodshed had ended, 602 deer were killed, they had died
at the hands of White Buffalo. The final article in the Solon paper said
that the culling opponents had slowed the program down. For that, we
were to be punished. Tony DeNicola strongly advised that next year a
“no-feed ban” should be implemented, a 200 ft. buffer zone should be
placed around the killsites, and the captive bolt should be used.
DeNicola also stated that his count was off and Solon had way more deer
than previously thought. This is a man that was quoted in our paper
saying that he equates killing deer to brushing his teeth. In Greenwich,
CT, someone overheard him say that they didn’t have a deer problem but
he’s more than happy to take their money.
After the devastation, we held a memorial service for our dead deer
in the middle of town for all to see. Peter Muller from C.A.S.H. and
LOHV came. He was fantastic. He came to Solon and spoke at our memorial
and taught us how to fight this politically. That is our strongest
defense, and I believe the only way to win this. We can’t thank Peter
enough. A member of our group recently did remarkable research on
non-lethal solutions. She also found some discrepancies in the final
report from the city. We met with the mayor and gave him this 800 page
document and are still waiting to hear back from him. We are starting to
meet with candidates that are running in next fall’s election. We have
reserved a booth at the Solon Home Days and will be representing the
League of Humane Voters.
Most importantly, I want people to know that any action for animals
is significant.
Even the smallest help is needed. We are all important in this battle
to force towns to act humanely.
Edmond Burke, a highly respected 18th Century statesman, said, “The
only way for evil to triumph is if good people do nothing.” Please
everyone, remember those words and do your part. We are willing and able
to share our information with you, although we hope and pray you’ll
never need it.
For the Deer,
Lane Ferrante
Contact info: Lane Ferrante
deerone2@juno.com
or Craig Sanders
csanders@nls.net
