Westchester 4 GeesePress 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 Rights Pivotal in Current Gubernatorial Race

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 17, 2014

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

As Carriage Horses Figured Predominantly in NYC Mayoral Race, Humane Voters Stand Out in Cuomo's 'War on Wildlife'
 
NYC, NY - With almost 40% of registered voters voting for Zephyr Teachout in the Primaries, attention is being paid to the difference between her and incumbent Governor; one of the differences is in enlightened attitudes about the current slaughter of wildlife in NYS, as addressed by Teachout in an official statement which clearly mirrors a growing sentiment among voters in addition to dissatisfaction about Cuomo:
 
"New York should be a national leader on animal protection issues. We must not continue using tax dollars to use lethal methods of eradicating wildlife, and we cannot condone killing as a first option – if it is an option at all. We must value and protect New York's wildlife, and we cannot allow indiscriminate and ineffective killing of wildlife, particularly not until the Department of Environmental Conservation has exhausted non-lethal solutions to resolving these issues. We must particularly focus on the safety of birds, thousands of which are killed each year by the Port Authority in a failed effort to reduce the risk of bird strikes. The Port Authority needs to increase its focus on long-term non-lethal alternatives such as implementing radar technologies."
 
As society advances in awareness and compassion, the massive killing of wildlife by the USDA and hunters is taking center stage, much as the carriage horse ban in NYC helped propel Bill DeBlasio to a mayoral win: 'Animal rights have emerged recently as an unexpected tinderbox in the mayoral race' (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/07/nyregion/nyc-mayoral-hopefuls-vie-to-love-animals-the-most.html?_r=0)  In fact animal rights was such a populist position that loser Joe Lhota ultimately jumped on the bandwagon, hoping to cull votes on this issue.  It is the same for NYS:  Cuomo has not only romanced the vote of hunters -  he wants more expanded bobcat trapping, expanded trapping and hunting, approves the extremely vicious crossbows and wants smaller buffers to homes; lowered the age of for licenses to allow children to hunt, created lifetime hunting licenses, promoted NYS as a “hunter’s paradise" to lure out of state hunters to NYS to kill our wildlife, while fatal hunting accidents are at an all time high.   Visit New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo Wants More of This for more information on this subject. 
 
Kiley Blackman, founder of Animal Defenders of Westchester, said, 'Cuomo’s out of control hunting policies are unwisely directed at that small less than 1% of the population that actually hunt. This is unacceptable to the 85% of NYS who oppose hunting and harming wildlife. I honestly feel people believe that it doesn't make much of a difference which candidate gets elected, thinking none of them can be trusted - they are that cynical; but they want to believe promises about compassionate treatment of animals. We are supporting Rob Astorino for his respectful, considerate treatment of our organization:  As one of our most compassionate humane voter/ members said upon seeing our Facebook endorsement: 'That's great! I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, but I don't like the record of the Cuomo administration.  I voted for Teachout, now I'll have to vote for Astorino.'

Return to Press Releases