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Community Corner

Animal Cruelty at Nature 'Preserve'

PRESS RELEASE
Westchester County, NY January, 2014   Animal Defenders of Westchester (ADOW) condemns the plan for Teatown Nature 'Preserve' to kill their resident deer, and  have reached out to Executive Director Kevin Carter, urging him to immediately terminate their contract with the USDA to kill deer.
 

On January 8, 2014 reports emerged that Teatown Lake Reservation, a non profit wildlife organization whose mission is to 'offer environmental education to adults and children', has contracted with the USDA to kill appx 75 local deer, with the usual playing-god 'invasive species' skewed science that they 'eat all the plants that would feed other species.' They quote sources such as Cornell University, which has been shown to have a profitable, nefarious, vested-interest partnership with the USDA to kill animals.  Teatown was quoted as saying they'd considered using birth control on the deer, as has been done successfully elsewhere, but instead outrageously chose killing them instead because it was 'cheaper.'   Teatown has a million-dollar budget, with a list of corporate sponsors that includes Goldman Sachs, Pepsico, the Ritz Carlton, Microsoft and Con Edison.  Of course Teatown, assisted by the scurrilous USDA, issued a 'nice' spin on the slaughter by announcing that the slaughtered animals will be 'donated to a food bank.'  Teatown lists a variety of engaging activities for the public, including a wine tasting, camping and eagle-watching; this slaughter will not be among their 'charming' list of events. 

Kiley Blackman, Founder of ADOW, said, 'This is a gross embarrassment for Teatown.  It is disgraceful that a nature 'preserve' has chosen to kill animals!  Do they understand the meaning of the word 'preserve'?  Carter knows what they're doing is unacceptable and unnecessary, and is doing a fast dance to explain it away.  We spoke on Jan 8; at that time he acknowledged that the birth control program might actually be viable but is 'waiting to see' if it works; meanwhile the USDA has convinced him to use their 'sharpshooters' for thousands of dollars, despite community complaints and the fact that other deer will take their place.  This is a massive failure and/or coverup on the part of Teatown: I asked Carter to provide data on which other species were 'suffering' as a result of the deer...and he had no response.  Taking the position that Teatown is 'helping' the deer by killing them, Carter said the deer are 'suffering and starving' - but ignored the fact that they'll also suffer when they're shot. He had no response when I suggested simply feeding the deer if they're hungry.  He did acknowledge that humans are the true 'invasive species' responsible for the urban sprawl smothering the planet and taking the animal's habitat away.  The USDA perpetrates the 'invasive species' garbage because they profit from killing animals to the tune of 125 MILLION DOLLARS per year by killing them.  ADOW is having ongoing meetings with various congresspersons with the aim of curtailing the USDA killing spree, We have forwarded information about the USDA to Mr. Carter and will continue to reach out to him.  Since Carter's position is that killing the deer will 'stop them from starving' I guess its a good thing he's not in charge of the food bank himself - the hungry poor people there would face a cruel death as well, with the excuse of 'putting them out of their misery.'  

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