WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO…
WORKING FOR WILDLIFE
There were several issues in which we became involved in last few
months. In some, we were instrumental in moving toward a successful
solution, in others the struggle continues. One issue which occurred
concurrently in several localities was the killing of suburban deer
because, according to some residents, they constitute a nuisance.
In Amherst and Cheektowaga, NY (both suburbs of Buffalo), Greenwich,
CT, and Solon, OH (a suburb of Cleveland), programs had been launched to
kill suburban deer. The plans for the execution of this massacre varied
but the intended effect was the same.
Both Solon, OH, and Greenwich, CT, are very affluent communities.
They decided to out-source the job of killing the deer to a company
called “White Buffalo.”
White Buffalo was founded and is run by Tony DeNicola. DeNicola
originally contracted with the city of Greenwich to kill 200 deer. That
is the number the local “experts” had convinced the selectmen of
Greenwich constituted the number of excess deer in the city. When Tony
and his gang of hired thugs arrived they killed 80 deer. They told the
city that there weren’t any more – so they left. DeNicola was overheard
telling a local policeman “Greenwich doesn’t have a deer problem – but
I’ll be happy to take their money” – and he did. It cost Greenwich
$47,000 for DeNicola and $7,600 in police overtime for a total of
$54,600. That came to $682.50 per deer killed.
In Solon, DeNicola contracted with the city for to kill 600 deer
which he did. He billed the city and was paid $252,000 for his services.
That amounts to about $420 per deer killed.
Peter Muller went to meetings in both Solon and Greenwich to help to
stop the killing.
He put the wildlife protectors from Solon and Greenwich in touch with
each other. Once they were able to compare the invoicing by DeNicola for
both locations, it didn’t take long before some billing irregularities
were discovered. We cannot reveal the details of those irregularities at
the moment, but hopefully they will help to stop further killing,
Peter Muller from C.A.S.H. and LOHV is going over some pointers on
political action with Animal Rights activists from Solon. Picture by
Craig Sanders
Natalie and Bo Jarnstedt in Greenwich had no problem convincing
Greenwich that the Town had been had. The Town of Greenwich has already
made a firm decision not to use DeNicola’s White Buffalo gang of thugs
again – furthermore they have decided that no form of “bait and shoot”
to reduce the deer population is necessary.
We have every reason to be optimistic for a quick decision from Solon
to follow suit with a similar announcement very shortly. We look forward
to hearing from Lane Ferrante and Bridget Soeder with good news.
In the Buffalo suburbs bait and shoot programs went forward also.
Rather than using outside hit-men they used their own police force to
shoot deer with high-powered rifles. In spite of all their assurances to
the contrary, an Amherst policeman’s bullet penetrated a residence in
the area where the bait-and-shoot took place. To make matters worse,
after the deer slaughter had ended, the town supervisor of Cheektowaga
announced a program to round-up and kill Canada geese from the same town
park.
Greenwich, CT had had a similar plan, but after pressure from Natalie
and Bo Jarnstedt, other protectors of wildlife, and several national
organizations including Wildlife Watch, they backed off and agreed to
use non-lethal methods to dissuade the Geese from certain areas.
