Show up or shut up

County avoids 'crime scene'

Wednesday, January 25, 1995

Press Publications Editorial

It was nice to see DuPage County Forest Preserve officials fail to show up at the alleged scene of the crime Monday and still continue to profess their innocence.

While the Chicago Animal Rights Coalition's opportunity for Forest Preserve officials to see the spot where an alleged secret deer-killing video was little more than a publicity stunt, the county did little to refute the group's claims by not showing up.

And while not bothering to show -- or, God forbid, even listen to the group's evidence continue to throw out accusations that the video may not have been shot in Greene Valley Forest Preserve near Naperville.

Forest Preserve officials contend that there is no way to prove the video was shot in the Greene Valley Forest Preserve or any DuPage County preserve. How about prove that it wasn't?

Whether at Greene Valley or not, the graphic tape was enough for Forest Preserve commissioners to permanently abandon the rocket net capture-captive method for killing deer.

The rocket-net method, if the tape is any indication, is a cruel way to kill animals and should be discontinued, not just in DuPage County, but throughout the state. Sharpshooters can do an adequate job in handling the deer in the larger preserves. And in the smaller preserves, where county officials are afraid to send in sharpshooters because of nearby homes, either leave the deer alone or transport them elsewhere.

And through it all, the Forest Preserve District continues to have an "if you don't have a smoking gun in our hand, we aren't guilty," mentality. They continue to question, not just the location, but the actual events on the video. But they give no evidence of their own.

County officials will get no better chance to refute CHARC's claims and get the capturing method back in practice than they had Monday. They had the lights, the cameras, the action -- all ready for the taking. Or is that what they were afraid of?

 

DuPage County Deer Mismanagement Update 2000

The sharpshooting of deer in DuPage County continues. In January 2000, SHARK spent two months monitoring one forest preserve with hidden cameras. The purpose was to document the accuracy, or lack thereof, of the county's sharpshooters.

Incredibly, in two months, the killers never shot a deer at the sites monitored by our cameras. The video footage showed conclusively that there are almost no deer left in the preserve, even when there were no killers around. Entire evenings went by without a single deer coming to the baited sites. Nevertheless, the killing teams continue to spend tens of thousands of tax dollars in an endless attempt to exterminate almost nonexistent deer.