The highly controversial deer cull has officially come to a close in Southold Town.
According to Carol Bannerman of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife DIvision, “The East End deer management project was scheduled to end by mid-April and it has concluded. The final report, including total numbers of deer taken and venison donated, will take some time to compile and submit. USDA Wildlife Services will recommend that the Long Island Farm Bureau make it available then.”
The total amount of venison donated to local food pantries was in excess of 4,000 pounds, Bannerman said.
But legal action regarding the cull still lingers: Last month, the Wildlife Preservation Coalition of Eastern Long Island filed a new notice of petition, an Article 78, against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in Albany.
An Article 78 proceeding is used to appeal the decision of a New York state, city or local agency to the New York State courts.
The petition was filed after Wendy Chamberlin, president of the Wildlife Preservation Coalition, said the DEC “failed to respond to three” Freedom of Information Law requests, asking for information about the specifics of the cull.
“This whole time, we’ve had enormous difficulty getting information from anyone,” Chamberlin said. “We feel we have to take this action to get them to comply and to point out that this is against the law and this is not how governmental agencies or elected officials are supposed to operate.”
Chamberlin said she’s had difficulty getting clear answers not only from the DEC but from East End supervisors and mayors. “It’s impossible to know what the truth is,” she said.
Mike Tessitore, founders of the Hunters for Deer organization, added, “The NYSDEC’s tactics of stonewalling and dragging its feet in producing the documents necessary to evaluate both the scope and need for the deer culling program, makes one question whether the agency is just plain incompetent or has a blatant disregard for accountability.”
The NYSDEC did not respond to a request for comment on the new petition.
Meanwhile, earlier litigation is still ongoing regarding the cull; the matter was due back in court before a judge in Albany last month, but has been adjourned a number of times. Although the papers were filed on March 28, no decision was made and a temporary restraining order remained in place until the end of the cull.
Chamberlin and Tessitore agreed they both have questions about what happened to the deer killed in the cull; Tessitore said earlier that deer innards had been found in a dumpster and he asked this week if deer had been “incinerated”.
The USDA did not immediately respond to requests for information regarding the question of what had happened to the carcasses.
“We don’t know anything,” Chamberlin said. “They can’t possibly have processed all the deer they’ve killed. They don’t have the money or the resources.”
Of the ongoing litigation, Tessitore said, “What we have all seen is that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued enough permits prior to the temporary restraining order to keep the USDA working through April.”
The Hunters for Deer group has been protesting the cull and asking the town board to let hunters do the job for free. He said he has been told that it’s good the judge is “taking his time, because the case will set precedent on future culls and the way the NYSDEC does business.” But, he added, “You would think they would act swiftly, especially since deer are being killed daily and the case is not based on monetary circumstances.”
Southold residents, however, continue to stand behind the cull: At a recent meeting, one resident commented, “I’ve got two or three new fawns on my property already. They’re everywhere.”
For months, the sharpshooter program has sparked fierce controversy, with many Southold residents supporting the initiative, stating that their quality of life had been ravaged by tick-born diseases and car accidents caused by the number of deer on the road. In addition, at three public forums held in Southold to discuss the deer issue, experts detailed the damage to the natural environment caused by the overpopulation of deer.
Meanwhile, the lawsuit commenced by animal activists handcuffed the DEC from issuing further deer damage permits, which are necessary before the sharpshooters can commence.
The temporary restraining order did not affect those deer damage permits that had already been issued.
Initially, DEC spokesperson Aphrodite Montalvo said the DEC could not comment on pending litigation but said the agency so far had granted 12 deer damage permits for the East End deer cull, with six pending. While she would not divulge specific locations, Montalvo said the sites were located in Riverhead, Southold, and Southampton towns; those permits granted were allowed to proceed.
Later, Montalvo said, in fact, 15 deer damage permits had been issued. Montalvo said the last permits were issued on February 28, prior to the issuance of the temporary restraining order on March 6. “No permits have been issued since then,” she said.
The number of tags associated with each permit varies according to property being assessed, she added. “Tags per property vary any where from 10 tags to 100,” Montalvo said.
The cull has enraged animal activists, who’ve spoken out passionately against what they deem slaughter; some have suggested boycotting Southold farms and wineries in protest. East Hampton decided to opt out of the cull after a threat of litigation and a sea of public protest.
“It’s all going to come out in the end,” Chamberlin said.
