Thank you for attending our press conference today regarding the proposal by Mayor Kent of Clarkstown to reduce the deer population of the town parks using bow hunters.

Friends of Deer Inc. is adamantly opposed to this proposal.

I have distributed press-kits to you which document the points that I will be making today. The folders also contain my card so that you can get back to me for additional information or clarification:

I am speaking for Friends of Deer Inc. -- we oppose the proposal to open parks up to bow hunting.

There are many emotional issues on both sides; and we should not discount their importance in deciding  policy. Feelings are important and deserve consideration.
However let’s not disregard the facts that science bring to bear on this issue.

Wildlife biology established the these facts.

Hunting cannot permanently reduce the size of a deer herd.
There are non-lethal cost-effective methods to reduce the size of a deer-herd.
Deer car collisions peak whenever hunting takes place
Science shows that deer density is not a cause of Lyme Disease
Bow hunting is least effective in deer-heard reduction and the  cruelest form of hunting

Wildlife management as practiced by the game agencies in the all 50 states is geared to accommodate the demand for hunting. There are many stakeholders in the deer density of a region: farmers, orchard owners, wildlife watchers, drivers, gardeners, -- and hunters. The agencies accommodate primarily the hunters. In NY State, for example, the DEC maintains 210,000 acres of “Wildlife Management Areas” whose sole, stated purpose is to grow wildlife (including deer).

The primary natural population control is the availability of browse. Hunting increases the available browse to the surviving members of the herd An abundance of browse increases the fecundity of does in several ways, among them are:

1) Does will come into estrus more often.
2) The chance of multiple births increases from 18% to a whopping 43%.
3) Yearling does will go into estrus.

This will result in a net increase of the size of the deer herd in the spring after the fawns are born.

If we do want to reduce the deer population there are non-lethal options.

Immunocontraception is a method used to reduce fawn-production by vaccinating some of the does with an agent that will temporarily prevent them from becoming pregnant. In combination with the normal die-off, this reduces the herd size without resorting to lethal methods. The most commonly considered and currently used immunocontraceptive products as PZP (Porcine Zona Pellucida Vaccine) it is currently being further developed by Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick.

A number of recent studies show that deer density has NO measurable effect on the number of blacklegged ticks nor on the incidence of Lyme disease in the area.
Let me quote from an article in the Journal of Medical Entomology 44(5):752-757. 2007 byy Robert A. Jordan, Terry L. Schulze, Margaret B. Jahn

“Deer culls are totally ineffective in reducing the number of blacklegged ticks.

…There was no apparent effect of the deer culling program on numbers of questing
I. scapularis subadults in the culling areas, and the overall numbers of host-seeking ticks in the culling areas seemed to increase in the
second year of the program. The Lyme disease incidence rate generated by both passive and active surveillance systems showed no clear trend among years, and it did not seem to vary with declining deer density. …”

Other negative social effects are also exacerbated by hunting and deer management to accommodate hunters.

Insurance companies have found that hunting DIRECTLY relates to the number of claims due to deer-car collisions.
According to their records of accident claims, deer-car collisions peak during first day of hunting season and on the first weekend of hunting season.

Bow hunting is both ineffective and cruel.
Studies by the DNR’s of the biggest hunting states show again and again that the crippling rate of bow hunting is 50%. Half of the deer shot and hit with an arrow are never recovered. Those deer die over the course of days, weeks or months from infections.
Deer with arrows embedded in them sometimes panic and run directly into traffic, crash through glass doors or windows in public buildings or private homes.

The proposal to donate the carcasses to food banks is also flawed. It endangers the health of clients of the food banks.  The deer meat will not be inspected. The deer have been grazing on areas treated with pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides that bio-accumulate in the muscle-tissue of animals.  The only time “culled” deer were inspected in NY was in Irondequoit NY – where the deer carcasses  were going to be donated to Attica Prisoners – all 22 carcasses were rejected as “unfit for human consumption.”  The lack of ethical consideration given to the ineffective, pointless cruelty of the proposal is not mitigated by this sham-altruism.

And lastly, there are many other members of society who enjoy the recreational use of open land. Wildlife Watchers, bird-watchers, hikers – all are stakeholder and taxpayers who are precluded from using open land for their enjoyment while it is reserved for a small minority who destroy our wildlife.
 

Thank you again for the opportunity to speak with you to you today. I'll be happy to now entertain questions from you