We advocate on all animal protection and exploitation issues, including experimentation, factory farming, rodeos, breeders and traveling animal acts.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 30, 2014
CONTACT:
Kiley Blackman
[email protected]
www.adow.org
Westchester County, NY
January 30, 2014
A coalition of Westchester area animal advocates is speaking out against
the secretive, dangerous plan by the Teatown Nature Preserve to slaughter 75
of its deer residents in the next few weeks by rifle fire. This cruel,
ill-advised contract will allow for the killing of more deer over the next
FIVE years, and is being litigated in Supreme Court, at the further expense
of Teatown's members. ANIMAL DEFENDERS OF WESTCHESTER joins with ANIMAL
NATION, NY 4 WHALES, WILDLIFE WATCH andTEATOWN MEMBERS AND NEIGHBORS AGAINST
ANIMAL CRUELTY, to denounce such unnecessary barbarism at a nature preserve,
of all places, and demand safety for all animals within its stewardship.
These are the facts as they stand now:
- Teatown mgmt supposedly perceived a 'problem' years ago and chose to do
nothing about it; they have now used old, outdated surveys to 'prove'
overpopulation and by-passed a vote by their advisory board in favor of
secrecy - despite being asked for proof of damage by deer, and the fact that
many residents state they never even see any deer at all; all factors
leading us to believe Teatown mgmt has their own agenda for contracting with
the DEC,as has been the case with the 'major cooperators' program of the
USDA/Wildlife Services, a program which benefits both parties.
- This has been addressed humanely all over the coiuntry, including in
Michigan, Fire Island and Hastings. According to Hastings Mayor Swiderski,
'“I realized there would be a public outcry every year and sabotage would be
easy. It only takes a few people with vials of coyote urine to drive the
deer away.” In fact, Teatown's Kevin Carter informed us about
Fire Island, whose program we were unaware of. A Grand Rapids coucilman
calls it a 'win-win' for the city:
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/273294/2/Grand-Haven-considering-birth-control-to-curb-deer
and
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/06/nyregion/providing-birth-control-to-deer-in-an-overrun-village.html?_r=0
- Teatown has reacted to criticism of the deer slaughter by changing its
Facebook setting to block public comments...and by completely removing its
list of Advisory Board Members from its website, to maintain a cloak of
secrecy and deception instead of responding to complaints by residents and
the public at large
- At least one Teatown Advisory Board Member has denounced Teatown for being
left out the decision making, and is willing to speak to the press about it
- Senator Greg Ball, a 'major player' for animal advocacy, is sending out
emails about his supposed 'accomplishments' for animals...by way of excusing
the fact that he refuses to get involved with the Teatown disgrace, even
though it's occurring in his senatorial district!
This is what our advocacy allies have to say about the despicable way
Teatown handles its supposed 'deer problems':
TAFFY WILLIAMS, NY4 WHALES and Licensed wildlife rehabilitator:
"The relentless and unnecessary slaughter of our wildlife has to stop! The
millions of people who love to experience nature and our own wildlife are
too often kept in the dark - until its too late! They will learn later the
deer have vanished - and the grief and outrage will assault them as if the
hunters had blasted them instead! Why does the solution to wildlife paranoia
end in their destruction? Why is a nature preserve - a place of sanctuary
for wildlife - resorting to this inhumane annihilation? We can not let these
deer be slaughtered."
KATE MURPHY, ANIMAL NATION
"Animal Nation, Inc. a volunteer-run 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit animal rescue
organization founded, in Rye, NY in 2001. We are writing on behalf of
our directors, founders and supporters. Most people are not aware that the
United States Department of Agriculture - Fish and Wildlife Services
(federal branch of the DEC) is being investigated by the Inspector General
for corruption, misuse of federal funds, inhumane and illegal practices to
cull and kill millions of animals a year including carnivores and protected:
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/awetzler/breaking_usda_inspector_genera.html)
We strongly oppose the decision that Teatown Reservation has made to bring in the USDA FWS to slaughter deer on their property. We think you are sending an unhealthy message to our community, especially children by choosing this lethal method. We support the circulating petition and have sent it out to our volunteers & supporters. We hope that Teatown officials change their mind and decide to do the right thing by choosing a humane approach to their forest regeneration project - as it is an important issue, we agree should be addressed but in more humane approaches."
ANNE MULLER, WILDLIFE WATCH
"On behalf of our Westchester members, and the many people who care about
wild animals, we were shocked that by the time the public found out about
the killing of deer in Teatown Lake Reservation, the ink had dried on the
contract between Teatown and Wildlife Services, which is under Congressional
investigation for cruelty to animals. Wildlife Services has specialized in
poisoning birds, torching young coyote pups alive in their dens, and other
atrocities against wildlife. How in the world did Teatown engage them
without consulting with wildlife protection organizations? These
organizations could have provided information about products and procedures
that would be humane, effective, and non-lethal.
It appears that the decision was unilaterally made behind closed doors. If
another not-for-profit organization spent its members’ donations to kill
wild animals, and did so in such a heavy-handed fashion, the officers would
be forced to resign.
Wildlife Watch intends to let our members, friends, and followers know about
Teatown’s disregard for the precious lives that grace their reservation,
though we hold out hope that Teatown will reverse its misguided decision.
Ironically, we promoted Teatown in our latest newsletter as a prime
wildlife watching area. We will be publishing a reversal of that
recommendation, along with a condemnation of Teatown’s decision to kill the
deer, in our next issue."
BIRGIT ROBERTSON, TEATOWN MEMBERS & NEIGHBORS AGAINST ANIMAL CRUELTY
"Most of us moved to this area because of it's beauty and wildlife and
joined Teatown because it was a NATURE PRESERVE. The deer
Teatown plans on killing are our neighborhood deer; shouldn't the members
and neighbors have been informed and included in the decision making? We're
talking about gentle, beautiful creatures with many of the same feelings we
have, love, fear and pain. What they don't feel is hate and vengeance! This
baiting and killing seems hateful to me. Do we really want to teach our
children to use violence as a solution to the problem????
We urge Teatown leadership to stop this so we can all enjoy Teatown once
more."
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