Rally Against Weekend Deer Hunting
A small but fervent group rallied outside Town Hall on Saturday, hoping to drum up public support and influence the East Hampton Town Board to take a stand against proposed state hunting regulations that would allow gunning on weekends in January and reduce the setback from structures for bow hunting from 500 to 150 feet.
In numbers hovering around a dozen, protesters held signs reading “No weekend hunting,” “Stop the slaughter, let our deer live,” and “Protect nature’s stillness in winter.” Some motorists honked car horns in support.
The town’s deer management advisory and nature preserve committees have discussed the new regulations, and the town board is expected to do so at a work session on Tuesday.
Supervisor Larry Cantwell said in an email yesterday that no decision had been made so far, but that he believes the deer population should be reduced. He and other officials have cited Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, deer-vehicle collisions, destruction of landscaping, and the proliferation of deer fences to advocate for a cull of the deer population.
Town and village officials among others have advocated deer culls in the past, and as reported elsewhere in this edition, a new nonprofit organization is focusing on a so-called four-poster system to kill ticks.
In an annual report issued in September, the town’s deer management advisory committee, chaired by Zachary Cohen, and its deer-management coordinator, Andy Gaites, recommended that the town support the changes in the state hunting code. The committee did not recommend a professional culling effort this winter, but did suggest that qualified residents with appropriate permits be allowed to hunt on properties that are not now approved for hunting.
Should the new regulations be adopted in East Hampton, “The deer are going to be under attack from a lot of different ways,” said Bill Crain, a part-time resident of Montauk who is president of the East Hampton Group for Wildlife. Mr. Crain, who organized Saturday’s protest, called the prospect of weekend gun hunting and bow hunting closer to residences “very upsetting in the sense that the deer will never get a break. . . . Bow hunting is cruel because the wound rate is so high. It’s all cruel, but bow hunting is especially so,” he said.
Outside Town Hall on Saturday, Mr. Crain’s colleagues and his wife, Ellen, bemoaned the potential increase in hunting this winter. “I oppose all forms of hunting,” Donnie Moss of Sagaponack and New York City said. “Hunting is a blood sport and I think it should be banned. It jeopardizes public safety, and it’s horribly inhumane.”
Catherine Gropper of Springs and New York City said she worried that joggers, hikers, or those taking outdoor classes would have to share the woodlands with hunters. “There was never weekend hunting before in the winter. There’s no mercy for the animals,” she said. “If there’s 12 people here or 50, we have to be vigilant.” She called expanded hunting “a social injustice, not just a wildlife injustice.”
“There should be hundreds of us out here,” Beverly Schnauzer of Sag Harbor said. “The apathy is pretty horrible,” Ms. Gropper agreed.
Many of the protestors decried citing tradition as a rationale to continue hunting. “I see these deer in my backyard and think, how could people want to kill these innocent creatures?” Mr. Moss said. “I want to protect them, not harm them. If Barcelona can ban bullfighting, the Hamptons can ban hunting. Tradition is never an excuse for the inhumane treatment of animals.”