2/20/04
Dear Democrat and Chronicle:
Re: “Mendon weighs deer bowhunting” (2/12/04), bowhunting is the most sadistic, ineffective means to deal with human/deer conflicts.
NJ Fish and Game noted that shotgun hunters cripple 19% of the animals shot; bowhunters cripple 57%. Many of these animals run onto roads, colliding with cars.
Auto insurance company statistics and The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration state that deer/car collisions dramatically increase during hunting season, as terrified deer run from their killers.
The DEC intentionally uses hunting to create all of the problems it purports to alleviate, to set up a self-perpetuating killing program – the more hunting, the more deer, and the more lies to the public that hunting is the solution.
The deer are doubly victimized by killing them and then blaming them for the destructive results to humans and the environment from hunting. Killing them for any reason is unconscionable, but to do so because “in the subdivision, they’re eating shrubs,” is an example of human selfishness at its most vile.
Go to www.all-creatures.org/cash to learn more about destructive wildlife management practices.
Susan Gordon, Representative
The Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting
Box 562
New Paltz, NY 12561