Please help save the deer in Rock Creek Park, second appeal

DC Nature

BACKGROUND

Your help is needed to save the deer—fawns, does, and bucks—in Rock Creek National Park in Washington, DC, before the National Park Service resumes slaughtering them this winter.IDA is part of a growing coalition working on this campaign, and your assistance is critical to help stop this killing plan.

We sued the Park and lost the lawsuit last March. The NPS then killed 20 deer. This was the first time in the park’s 123-year history that NPS has allowed the killing of any wildlife in Rock Creek Park. We have also sent petitions to halt further killing of RCP’s deer to the NPS, and we have filed the opening brief for the appeal of our suit.


PETITION

Please click HERE to sign


WHOM TO CONTACT

Express your opposition to the plan to resume the deer kill and your support of non-lethal controls. Contact Jon Jarvis, and Tara Morrison of NPS and Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior:

jon_jarvis@nps.gov ; Tara_Morrison@nps.gov ; feedback@ios.doi.gov



SAMPLE LETTER

To Whom It Concerns,

National Park Service (NPS) has hired sharpshooters to massacre deer at Rock Creek Park in Washington D.C. in a misguided attempt to reduce deer numbers in populated areas, even though numbers remain stable. Although this hunt is 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 Washington D.C., I would be unwilling to consider it, or nearby, as a potential vacation destination if this deer cull continues.

Fourth, the slaughtered animals won’t be the only victims as newborn fawns may be left to starve!

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

I know your time is limited and I want to thank you for your attention to this urgent matter; I look forward to a positive resolution to this situation.

NAME


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we are deer,
we want to live
here,
if you do not
stand up for us,
our end will
too soon be
here

Karen Lyons Kalmenson