Tag Archives: New York

It’s Crow-Killing Time in Upstate New York, and Elsewhere

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By ANDREW C. REVKINcrow poster
March 27, 2014

It’s crow-killing time in upstate New York this weekend, and in many places around the country this spring. My friend Suzie Gilbert, a bird rehabilitator and writer (read “Flyaway”), has written a blog post criticizing this form of recreation. [Update, March 28 | She’s added a followup piece that has valuable new elements.]

Here’s an excerpt from Gilbert’s post with a link to the rest, followed by the reaction I was able to elicit via Facebook from the Rip Van Winkle Rod & Gun Club, which has organized the weekend “Crow Down” in Palenville, N.Y.:

I am not anti-hunting. I won’t pick a fight with hunters, as long as they eat what they shoot and don’t use lead ammunition. However, I will pick a fight with the Rip Van Winkle Rod and Gun Club in Palenville, New York, which is sponsoring their fourth annual “Crow Down” March 29-30, 2014.

The “Crow Down” is a “hunting contest” where both adults and children slaughter as many crows as they possibly can in two days. Why do they do this? Look at the Maryland-based website Crow Busters, although I warn you you’ll need a strong stomach for the photographs. Here is a direct (and unedited) quote:

“… keep in mind the main reason why experienced crow hunters got into the sport in the first place, Fun. Plain old fashioned Fun.”

Some people think it’s just plain fun to kill enormous numbers of animals and pile up their bodies, and when there’s no “bag limit” it’s legal to do so….

Outlawing these contests is within the purview of state government, not the Department of Environmental Conservation. New York Senators Jack Martins (R-Mineola) and Tony Avella (D-Queens) have co-sponsored a bill (#S.4074) which would make it unlawful for “any person to organize, conduct, promote or participate in any contest or competition where the objective of such contest or competition is to take the greatest number of wildlife.” I urge everyone concerned about the concept of mass slaughter in this day and age – especially when it’s being taught to children – to contact them and express support for this bill, which would protect not only crows, but all the unfairly maligned species that have been targeted for hundreds of years. Groups across the country, including Project Coyote in California, are fighting similar battles.

[Read the rest.] http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/its-crow-killing-time-in-upstate-new-york-and-elsewhere/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=1

The Animals Support Gun Control

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On the way up to the mountains to ski some of the seven plus feet of snow which fell during the past week, I passed a car with a bumper sticker that read: “The Animals Support Gun Control.” That brings up an issue you almost never hear about, ironically enough, after someone brings a hunting rifle to school and tries to peck off every kid or teacher they can get a bead on.elk-000-home17300

Oh, you hear about gun control, that’s a given, but almost never in the context of how they’re used against non-human animals—for sport or savagery—in contest kills, often geared especially for young people, as if to tempt the next mass-murderer out of hiding and onto the playground for some real fun and games.

You can’t expect grade-schoolers to understand the subtle difference between a sacred human life and those of other animals they’ve been trained to kill—before they could even develop a conscience—by their proud parents, who use their kids’ eagerness to please and to play follow the leader against them, in hopes of recruiting a life-time hunting partner.

The disturbing trend among states to lower the legal hunting age, practically to infancy, suggests the word “Columbine” evokes only the image of a pretty flower to them. Meanwhile, hunters in states like Idaho are actively luring young children to try their luck in coyote or wolf killing derbies to further degrade the value of life that movies and video games have already taught them to disregard a thousand times over. The town of Holley, New York, just held another appalling example of state-sanctioned sadism in the form of an animal-kill contest they dubbed the “squirrel slam.” “Sporting” events like the so-called “squirrel slam” are an embarrassment that only adds to the global perception that this is an inherently violent country.

Not to be outdone, the Oklahoma “game” department just announced that the senior class of Sasakwa High is sponsoring a crow-killing contest, set for the end of this month—complete with prize money for whoever murders the most crows. It’s a spectacle sure to inspire the next killer-in-waiting to turn their semi-automatic on their fellow classmates.

These kinds of hunting events beg the obvious question: how can kids be expected to know the difference between officially sanctioned animal cruelty and acts of cruelty they come up with on their own?

So if you feel your Second Amendment rights are withering away at the mere mention of gun control, relax that death-grip on your rifle for a moment and consider what the animals would have to say about the issue, if only we allowed them a voice.

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Protestors of Squirrel Slam say hunting contest ‘is a crime against nature’

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By Tom Rivers, editor 19 February 2014

HOLLEY – Edita Birnkrant doesn’t want to take away anyone’s Second Amendment rights. But she does want to make shooting animals illegal when it’s part of a fund-raiser.

Birnkrant is director of Friends of Animals in New York. She will be in Holley on Saturday for the 8th annual Squirrel Slam. She may be joined by hundreds of FOA supporters from several states.

“We share the landscape with wildlife,” Birnkrant said by phone this afternoon from New York City. “I see this as a crime against nature.”

Friends of Animals plans a peaceful protest near the Holley Firehall from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on Saturday. Birnkrant was in Holley last year for the Squirrel Slam and she said some of the hunters taunted her with dead squirrels, holding them out towards her as they passed by for the weigh station at the firehall.

Police have told Birnkrant the Friends of Animals will be separated from the hunters on Saturday. Police don’t want the hunters walking through a pack of protestors.

This year’s event has the added dimension of the New York Revolution, a group that formed last year after the state passed the controversial gun control measure known as the SAFE Act. The group is expected to be in Holley on Saturday, showing its support for the Second Amendment.

Birnkrant said she doesn’t want to infringe on the Second Amendment.

“We’re not trying to take guns away,” she said. “We think wildlife killing contests should be unlawful. As a society we have to evolve from this.”

The Holley event isn’t the only fund-raiser where participants hunt wildlife. Other events target crows and coyotes. But Birnkrant said Holley’s Squirrel Slam is unusual because it has a fire department as its sponsor and
welcomes children as young as 12 to participate.

Participants bring up to five squirrels to the weigh station and prizes go to the heaviest cumulative entry. The event on Saturday, despite little advertising, quickly was a sellout and capped at 650 participants.

The Squirrel Slam generates about $6,500 in revenue for the Fire Department. After it pays out $1,500 for prizes, $500 for food and $440 to Holley for police overtime, Fire Department President Fran Gaylord said the event nets about $4,000.

Friends of Animals plans to present a petition to village and fire department officials, asking that the event be cancelled in the future. Friends has offered to make up the fund-raising loss for the fire department, Birnkrant said.

Bills in both the State Assembly and Senate call for banning wildlife hunting contests. That doesn’t include fishing derbies. Birnkrant said that her goal is to stop the contests that call for killing of land animals. She
doesn’t see the contests as hunting in the traditional sense.

“Most people would be horrified by a dog or cat killing contest because they are pets,” Birnkrant said. “I’m horrified by a squirrel killing contest. They feel pain.”

Friends of Animals is actually against all hunting, but the group’s immediate goal is to see state legislation approved to ban wildlife hunting contests.

Birnkrant said her group hopes to show its opposition to the Holley event on Saturday, and doesn’t want to get into any confrontations with supporters of the Squirrel Slam.

“I would hope it would be pretty uneventful,” she said.

Holley police expects to have at least five officers on duty Saturday afternoon with additional support from the Albion Police Department and New York State Police.

Photo copyright Jim Robertson

Photo copyright Jim Robertson

NY Town Hosts Annual “Squirrel Slam” Bloodbath

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Photo copyright Jim Robertson

Photo copyright Jim Robertson

THE VILLAGE OF HOLLEY, N.Y., IS PREPARING FOR ANOTHER
BLOODBATH SATURDAY, FEB. 22, WHEN IT WILL HOST ITS ANNUAL”SQUIRREL SLAM”

Friends of Animals (FoA) and local residents will lead a protest of the
horrific event, a squirrel-shooting contest for children and adults
disguised as a fundraiser, and take questions from the media, on Saturday
from 4:30 to 6 p.m. outside the Holley Fire Department located at 7 Thomas
St., where the hunters will bring dead squirrels to be weighed to claim prizes.

“Our experiences protesting the event last year showed a sickening,
gun-worshipping culture of adults, teenagers and children who celebrated the
violence of mass animal killing,” said Edita Birnkrant, FoA’s NY Director.

While the fire department gears up for the event despite opposition, New
York lawmakers are speaking out against the disgrace and showing support of
legislation that would put an end to animal killing contests for good.

“Any competition that encourages and glorifies the slaughter of innocent
animals for no purpose has no place in our state,” said N.Y. state Sen. Jack
Martins, one of the sponsors of a bill that would make these contests illegal.

Last year FoA, an international animal advocacy group founded in New York in
1957, mobilized supporters and took to the streets to protest and released a
mini documentary detailing its efforts. The video,
<http://friendsofanimals.org/news/2013/april/squirrel-slam-video&gt;
http://friendsofanimals.org/news/2013/april/squirrel-slam-video , also draws
attention to the Senate and Assembly bills that would ban animal killing contests in New York.

“Killing contests like the ‘Squirrel Slam’ provide an incentive to children
and adults to shoot many animals to win prizes- a disturbing, irrational
activity that’s out-of-pace with New York culture and must end throughout
the state,” said N.Y. state Sen. Tony Avella, who created the bill.

“I believe it is an obligation and honor to advance legislation that will
protect and maintain the beauty and health of New York State wildlife,”
added N.Y. state Assembly member Deborah J. Glick.

David Brensilver, a wildlife advocate and writer/musician, created a
“Squirrel Slam” protest song in support of FoA’s efforts and can be
downloaded here: <http://thedailymaul.com/?p=9791&gt;

Puppy dies in hot backyard

Animal killing contests are part of a broader conversation on gun violence.
The Holley event comes just over a year after a rifle wielding Adam Lanza
committed mass murder at an elementary school, and last month, a 12-year-old
opened fire at a middle school and an elderly man fatally shot someone
because he was text messaging during a movie.

__________________

Friends of Animals, an international animal protection organization founded
in 1957, advocates for the rights of animals to live free, on their own
terms. <http://www.friendsofanimals.org&gt; http://www.friendsofanimals.org

Action Alert: Urge Long Island to Halt Deer Massacre

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Urge Long Island to Halt Deer Massacre!

cute deer

According to news sources, the Long Island Farm Bureau intends to contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services to kill deer in local municipalities by using sharpshooters or by using netting to catch them so that they can be slaughtered, apparently in hopes of controlling the deer population. Animals who are shot often do not die outright. Wounded deer commonly “disappear,” only to succumb unseen to their injuries or to die from extreme stress or in attacks by other animals. And netting is a terrifying ordeal for these easily frightened prey animals, who thrash frantically when ensnared, often harming themselves in the process, and then endure rough handling before finally being killed.
Deer are beneficial to ecosystems because they distribute key nutrients. Even if population control is insisted upon, there is no need for lethal measures when effective, humane methods exist. Please politely urge the Long Island Farm Bureau to halt this cruel initiative—and then forward this alert widely!

Take Action Here: https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=5221

NYT Approves of Killing 3,000 Deer on Long Island

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THE NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS APPROVE OF KILLING 3,000 DEER ON LONG ISLAND

by Anne Muller

When The New York Times editorial staff gives its imprimatur to an idea, policy, politician, or event, it carries a lot of weight. I’m an avid online reader of the NYT, sometimes waking at 3:45 a.m. to read the NYT in my inbox. As an anti-hunting advocate, the subject of wildlife management has been a specialty of mine for many years, so I was disappointed to read that the killing of deer was given short shrift by the Times’ editors.

There’s something wrong when the killing of 3,000 living, breathing beings is given a thumbs-up by an esteemed newspaper. I prefer to believe that the support shown for this “cull” is not a lack of ethics, but rather a lack of information about how deer populations increase. It’s important to know the truth in order to apprehend the real culprit.

To allow hunters to remove a considerable percentage of the deer population while ensuring a continuing “crop” for the next hunting season, land manipulation and hunting regulations are designed to increase their birthrate and food supply. The current goal of wildlife management agencies is to sustain hunting from season to season. (There is an exception to this form of management but it would be too lengthy to discuss here.)

Wildlife Services, which operates almost as a separate fiefdom within the USDA, benefits greatly from killing “excess” wildlife that occurs due to sloppy miscalculations by state game departments, and their indifference to wild animal suffering. It’s a win-win situation for both a state wildlife management agency and the federal Wildlife Services, but it is a huge loss for the general public, the deer, and those who love them.

Both state game agencies and Wildlife Services operate as if they were private enterprises functioning within a larger government entity, enjoying all the benefits of public money and the credibility that municipal governments attribute to them. Yet, the very survival of Wildlife Services depends on outside contracts from private or government entities; and the survival of state game departments depends on hunting license sales and excise taxes on handguns, other firearms, and ammunition used legally against wild animals and illegally against people.

While hunting has been given a pass by President Obama and other gun control proponents, there are certain fiscal inequities that need to be exposed, and opposed as vigorously as other wrong laws plaguing our society.

I wonder if those who believe that gun control is needed but hunting is okay understand that every firearm purchased and every bit of ammunition used in the killing and injury of students, theater goers, elected officials, and thousands of individuals shot in urban areas, increases the revenue of the Conservation Fund whose purpose is to fund game agencies so that they can continue to benefit from the excise taxes on weapons and ammunition. Put another way, the goal of wildlife management agencies is to increase the use of firearms and ammunition in order to collect the excise tax.

Isn’t it time to revisit the Pittman-Robertson Act, which created an insulated and circular business that cares little about how firearms are used just so long as they are used?

Wouldn’t it only be fair that funds derived from the sale of guns and ammunition be allocated to compensate victims, or their care-takers, to mitigate the impact of losses from death, injury, or property damage resulting from the use of such weapons and ammunition?

Does it really seem right that all conservation funds are used to promote hunting and more use of firearms and ammunition?

Wildlife management needs to shift from a weapons-based and hunting-based foundation to a non-consumptive, wildlife watching one. That alone will reduce the artificially increased number of deer, thus obviating the pretense of a “necessary cull” due to natural causes rather than the choreography of wildlife management agencies.

How much longer must we and wildlife suffer with our current form of wildlife management? How much longer should families of victims of gun violence be left without compensation to cover the financial burden of their loss? How much longer should the public be kept in the dark about the funding scheme of firearms use? How much longer should our wild animals suffer as a result of mismanagement and a lack of ethics regarding their welfare?

Killing the Long Island deer is wrong both morally and strategically. The real culprit is wildlife management’s connection to the firearms industry. Slaughter of these precious beings will not solve anything, but it will allow the nightmare to continue. Hunting should not be a sacred cow for gun control proponents. It’s time to take it on and change the game.

Anne Muller, VP

Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting

New Paltz, NY and Las Cruces, NM

Photo Copyright Jim Robertson

Photo Copyright Jim Robertson