Deer Hunt Bogus on All Counts

You may find this above image disturbing, as do I. But it's not nearly as disturbing as the story that goes with it.

For some totally unfathomable reason, Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, ordinarily a good guy doing good things, is insistent that the deer hunt in South Mountain Reservation continue.

This, despite the fact that independent studies have shown that there are less than 50 deer living in the Reservation, that reflectors at high accident locations have proven successful in preventing car collisions with deer, and that an immunocontraceptive has been proven to be 88% effective in limiting deer reproduction.

All of these proven methods of deer count, deer containment and deer contraception are just being ignored by Mr. DiVincenzo and he is claiming that Lyme Disease, car accidents and damage to the foliage in the Reservation are justification for this barbaric killing spree.

Even if we were to accept the Executive's rationale (and no one who has seen the studies or knows the issues does accept them, including the American Lyme Disease Foundation), let's look at the circumstances.

The deer killed in the last hunt were not humanely killed. Don't kid yourself that these "marksmen" put a bullet through the head of the deer and that was that. These deer included bucks, does,and yearlings (Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings should be here to chronicle this!). Some of the "kill" included fawns that were less than 35 pounds (that's the weight of a full sized beagle as point of comparison). They were shot and then wandered out onto the road to be run down by cars, collapse in a pool of their own blood while still alive, and in one particularly horrific case, eaten alive by an unleashed pit bull.

Not enough yet to move you?

Then consider the density of the population surrounding the Reservation. Any stray bullet could easily penetrate a home, a car window, or some one's head.

And if none of this moves you, ponder the message we send to children living in this area in allowing this to happen. That lovely, essentially benign creatures are allowed to be slaughtered, that guns and bullets are accepted as solutions rather than regarded as problems, and that one person---- for whatever reason---- can potentially sway an intelligent body of people to let him have his way in continuing this massacre.

PLEASE, please attend the West Orange Township meeting on October 7 to protest and halt this "deer hunt". Call for the reinstatement of Resolution 648-04 which opposed the deer hunt. Make your minds known and your voices heard. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. If you can not attend the meeting, please send an email to the City Council members who will be listening to the Essex County Executive that night make his case for the hunt.

There is no case, and you need to let the council members know that you are in direct and resolute opposition to this hunt.