Holding Life in Your Hand

This is an open plea to the Township of Maplewood.

And, yes, I'll resort to begging to save a life.

In this case it is not just one life. It is dozens, and it could be hundreds. There is no max or cap on the number of deer that will be allowed to be slaughtered if the Essex County "Deer Management" Plan goes unchallenged and unchecked.

There is a controversy raging about this so-called "deer hunt". You need to listen to all sides and not take for granted that the information being presented by the County is the only story.

It is just one side, and it is greatly flawed.

Before you condone and allow this slaughter to take place again, please note the following:

1. Consider that there were 213 deer killed in last year's hunt. Regardless of who is doing the counting, that is a large number of deer and that is without even getting into the finer points of the inhumane methods employed in the kill.

2. With that number of deer slaughtered, there is every reason to believe that Gonacon, the emerging and most efficient contraceptive to limit deer population, will work in the Reservation.

3. Deer are not the only reason for the defoliation of the Reservation. There is a block of "evidence" to attest to that fact. Why are deer being singled out as the only cause when there is documentation that mountain and dirt bikes are causing enormous damage?

4. Why, when the documentation exists, are mountain bikes not just allowed but encouraged by the South Mountain Conservancy and the deer are targeted for slaughter?

5. Deer are not the only carrier of the tick causing Lyme Disease. Analyse the logic here. The deer don't "grow" the tick. The ticks exist in the soil and use the deer as hosts. Birds and other mammals can be convenient hosts as well, aside from the fact that the ticks are perfectly capable of transporting themselves without hosts.

6. There is no guarantee that even with the slaughter of the deer that the foliage in the Reservation will regenerate. No one knows if it will, yet the slaughter is being touted as the answer.

7. Weigh the impact of your action. Do you want to tell your community and the children living in Maplewood that guns, bullets and violent actions are the solutions to problems? Just think about that message as that is the one that will be heard if you again approve this slaughter.

The West Orange Township Council stated that more study and exploration needed to be done before it would consider endorsing another hunt.

The Maplewood Township Council desperately needs to follow the same path.