Deer Slaughter in Washington, D.C.

words emblazoned on the envelope were "Stop the Deer Slaughter!

Act Now."

 

Are there any wild animals left who aren't badgered and even killed

because of our cruel stewardship? How can we protect them from

our guns, bows and arrows, or whirring helicopter round-ups? One

young horse ran his hooves off in one of the cruel Bureau of Land Management (BLM) round-ups, and just keeled over and died. How very, very painful it must have been for him to run on his crippled, bleeding hooves. 

 

I see too that the terrible specter of horse slaughterhouses is starting up again in the U.S--despite polls showing that 80 percent of Americans are opposed to them. I wrote my three Congresspeople TWICE, asking them to co-sponsor the SAFE ACT, which would protect our horses. But they obviously don't care about the issue, because none of them has replied.  I'll try again. At least they should tell me why they are not supporting this humane measure.   

 

In another animal issue, the poor wolves have once again been de-listed from the Endangered Species Act. And it's easy to find people on the Internet showing absolutely no shame as they pose with the bloodied bodies of their victims.

Take Action To Help End Deer Slaugter for Population Control 

Now the In Defense of Animals (IDA) organization has alerted us to the never-ending problem of killing deer. Why haven't we been using humane methods to keep their numbers down? I am always amazed at how poorly we manage wildlife. That activity usually ends up killing animals, not "managing" them.

 

 

If this duplicitous spectacle doesn't sicken you, I guess nothing

will. The flyer I received from the IDA today asked supporters to voice their outrage to the NPS. And, yes, I certainly will. It urged us to "Demand [that] the agency fulfill its own mandate of protecting native wildlife--including deer--and that existing humane methods such as immunocontraception be used instead of killing deer."

 

The flyer suggested that, to get the agency's attention, we send our message directly to the National Park Service Director, Jonathan

Jarvis, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240. An alternative proposal was to email Mr. Jarvis at an address that can be found on the Internet. I hope you will look up that email address and write him, making clear your displeasure with the cruel and needless killing of innocent deer. 

 

As soon as I finish this post, I will email the director myself, telling him that the NPS's approach was both callous and needless. I'll also ask him why the agency isn't using contraceptives to control the deer population in a humane way. Making that contact will take only a few minutes. And if you care about deer as I do, I'm confident you'll find those few minutes too.

 
Organized Cruelty to Animals Starts with Individual Heartlessness

When I think of deer, I sadly always recall what happened in east

Cleveland some years ago. An elderly black woman found a fawn in

one of her flower beds. Instead of oohing and ahhing--which I

think most of would do on spotting a baby fawn--she flew

into a rage. All she cared about was her flowers, and this fawn,

in her opinion, didn't belong among them. She then picked up a

shovel and beat the poor fawn to death. The poor mother deer

must have watched in horror, unable to do anything to stop this

very cruel act. 

 

This was an act of animal cruelty at the personal level that was also both heartless and needless. All the woman had to do to solve her problem was to call the proper city agency and ask it to remove the innocent little creature. I believe that, in the end, she was convicted of some small violation. But, whatever the penalty was, it wasn't nearly enough for those of us who felt she deserved a harsher punishment. What the woman did was completely uncalled for.

 

 

Human society has taken away from deer land that was once theirs; this means that, in many cases, their only recourse is to try to adapt to living among us. It certainly is not easy for them, because we do very little to help them. Instead, communities are increaingly resorting to deadly methods to control local deer populations.

 

In addition, cities and towns are often pressured by state wildlife agencies and commissions to adopt wildlife policies that favor opportunies for hunters, even when those policies fly in the face of overwhelming opposition from caring citizens. 

 

Until recently, I had never heard about a particularly barbaric practice used in some places to cull the deer population. Called NETTING AND BOLTING, it involves casting a net over a terrified deer herd. Understandably, the deer scream and thrash about. This often leads to  

 

As was true in the NPS Washington deer shoot this March, hired sharpshooters, wherever they are used, are paid tens or hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars per year to lure hungry deer to baiting stations and shoot them while they eat. The "lucky" ones die instantly.  Others who are only wounded die slowly over several days from blood loss or infections.

 

Certainly, we can do better by these animals. If we have tens or

hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money to kill deer, we could be using those same dollars to "shoot" darts containing immunocontraceptives into them to help keep their populations down.  The darts are certainly less painful than guns, bows and arrows, or netting and bolting procedures, and NO DEER WOULD HAVE TO DIE.

 

 

I copied this short intercessary prayer from the morning prayers

of one of the week days. Simply stated, it says a lot--at least

to me. Addressed to the Creator, it asks:

 

"Show us your goodness present in EVERY CREATURE, that we may

contemplate your glory every day."