Help Valley Forge Deer - Let them be - From Friends of Animals, Pennsylvania

Valley Forge National Park officials are developing a deer management strategy that they claim supports long-term protection, preservation, and restoration of native vegetation and other natural and cultural resources. The plan cites unacceptable damage to the understory of the woods, the threat of Chronic Wasting Disease, damage to ornamental plants on local human residents' property, and other perceived problems. The Park initially set out four alternatives: (A) no action against the deer, the status quo; (B) fencing and reproductive control; (C) sharpshooting plus capture and euthanasia and (D) killing 80% of the deer with sharpshooters and imposing birth control on the remaining 20%. Park officials favor “Alternative D,” a massacre.

In February, Friends of Animals, CARE, and certain individual citizens joined together to submit extensive comments favoring “Alternative A.” These comments are publicly available in their entirety at: http://www.friendsofanimals.org/programs/free-living/Deer_Management.htm. Among others, the following facts indicate that Park officials' claims are disingenuous:
– The deer population has decreased and stabilized since 2005.
– Accidents are better prevented by enforcing speed limits and putting up fences and reflective lights, rather than shooting or trapping (for birth control) deer (which will cause deer to run into traffic).
– Chronic Wasting Disease has not been detected in PA and is not proven to be transmissible.
– Coyotes are present in the area, and could keep the deer numbers in check if permitted to thrive.
Why not promote birth control? Imposing birth control on free-living animals is a violation of their rights. Controlling deer fertility is not only a physical violation, but also alters the social structure of a group. Contraceptives have been tested on deer, with disturbing reactions in the deer test subjects: abscesses, inflammation, pain, reduced fat content in bone marrow, and abnormal antler development in male deer. Porcine Zona Pellucida, a birth control made from pig eggs, is clearly not vegan. Though we understand that activists proposing use of contraceptives view this as a compromise to prevent killing, promoting the imposition of birth control actually concedes the point that the deer are overpopulated when, in fact, they are not. In that respect, the Park officials can assert that there is general agreement that the deer are overpopulated.

Friends of Animals and CARE are suing the Park to protect the deer with the assistance of the Denver University Environmental Law Clinic.
What can you do to help?
1 - Write to your Senator and Representative to tell them that you object to the Park spending a budgeted $3,000,000 of taxpayer money on this massacre. Ask your family and friends to do the same.
2 - If you live in the area, e-mail philly@friendsofanimals.org to be added to the mailing list for alerts about protests and other actions demanding that the Park “LET THE DEER BE.”