Urge Avon Lake, Ohio, to Oppose Bowhunting

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BACKGROUND

Avon Lake, Ohio, is reportedly considering the use of bowhunting in an attempt to reduce deer populations. Your voice is needed!

Bowhunting is among the cruelest forms of hunting. Bowhunters often spend hours following bloody tracks before finding wounded deer. Many are not found, and their deaths are slow and painful. It can take weeks for them to succumb to their injuries. Families are then torn apart, and young and weak animals starve or die of dehydration.

Please urge Avon Lake officials to toss bowhunting—and then forward this message widely! If deer control is insisted upon, please share these tips.


WHOM TO CONTACT

The Honorable Greg Zilka, Mayor of Avon Lake, and the Avon Lake City Council using these e-mail addresses:

gzilka@avonlake.org; modonnell@avonlake.org; dbucci@avonlake.org; jshondel@avonlake.org; rjames@avonlake.org; jfenderbosch@avonlake.org; lmeiners@avonlake.org; dkos@avonlake.org


SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Honorable Zilka and Avon Lake City Council Members,

It has come to my attention that Avon Lake, Ohio, is reportedly considering allowing bowhunters to kill deer in an attempt to reduce deer populations. Although this hunt would be inherently cruel based on the premise alone, it is important to recognize it is based on erroneous information.

Please allow me to illustrate a few of these concerns. First, ecologically, populations will fluctuate according to conditions and naturally-occurring food sources; it is the interference of humans that causes imbalance. To blame and slaughter the deer for human encroachment is both irresponsible and unjustified.

Second, killing deer artificially increases food supplies to the remaining deer, the consequence of which is increased reproduction and an ensuing greater deer population. In fact, studies have demonstrated that the continual cycle of seasonal hunting is responsible for a rebound, or larger herd populations, in subsequent years.

Third, this type of mass killing using such a brutal type of slaughter in such a central and visible location would certainly adversely affect both visitation and tourism; it would be financially detrimental to continue with such a cruel and unnecessary killing, and although I do not currently reside in Avon Lake, I would be unwilling to consider it, or nearby, as a potential vacation destination if this deer cull continues.

Fourth, bowhunters often spend hours following bloody tracks before finding wounded deer, if they look at all. Many deer are not found, and their deaths are slow and painful. It can take weeks for them to succumb to their injuries. Families are then torn apart, and young and weak animals starve or die of dehydration.

Please instead examine alternative, non-lethal options such as fencing, fertility control, and relocation according to established protocols, which, when using these methods appropriately, have all proven successful in curtailing deer populations. Please see these tips.

I know your time is limited and I want to thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

NAME

they shot an arrow in the air
who it harmed and where
it landed.
they did not care
until they, the bowhunters
were the sighted
not the ones manning
the sights.
then they cowered in corners
covered with their own
fright:(

Karen Lyons Kalmenson