Activists cheer plan to rethink deer killing

January 18, 1995

The Daily Herald

By ROBERT MCCOPPIN
Daily Herald Staff Writer

A videotape of trapped deer struggling wildly under nets prompted DuPage County Forest Preserve District commissioners Tuesday to order an end to capturing deer with nets and killing them with bolts to the head.

The district will continue reducing the deer population in its preserves using snipers but will review whether it is being done humanely.

The tape, shot secretly by animal rights activists, repeatedly showed deer bucking and bleating loudly as people went from one to the other.

Animal rights activists contend the tape shoed forest preserve workers killing the deer by firing a metal bolt directly into their heads.

They said that in some cases when the bolt did not finish the job, others had to be used on the thrashing animals until they died.

District spokesman Brook McDonald said it was unclear exactly what the people were doing on the tape after the captures. He said they may have been fitting radio collars to the animals.

But by a vote of 11-10, commission members decided the evidence was enough to put a moratorium on the net-and-bolt method.

"It relieves the agony of the animals," commissioner Carolyn Kulie said. "There are better ways to do it, and that's what we should be doing."

Commissioner Patrick O'Shea agreed. "I think it's inescapable that it really is an inhumane process," he said.

Fifteen to 20 animal welfare activists cheered the decision, some crying as they left the board room. They have fought the extermination program for three winters.

District officials say the program is necessary to reduce an overpopulation of deer that is devouring vegetation and endangering the entire ecosystem.

Bolts to the head and gunshots are the only methods for killing deer approved by the Illinois Department of Conservation. Tranquilizers may not be used because the carcasses must be given to charity, McDonald said.

Out of 642 deer killed by the district last winter, bolts were used on only two, McDonald said.

The district expanded the program to 18 preserves this winter. Because some of the preserves are small and near homes, the district was using the net-and-bolt method more often to avoid danger from stray gunshots.

Commission member Floyd Sanford advocated employing bow hunting instead. The district has not ruled that out for the future but must get deer numbers down quickly first, McDonald said.

Steve Hindi, spokesman for the Chicago Animal Rights Coalition, called Director of Grounds & Resources John Oldenburg a "liar" for saying the deer die quickly and humanely.

"That's why you wouldn't let us see it," Hindi told Oldenburg, "Because you were lying John, and now you've been caught."

District officials never have allowed the public to see the deer killings, citing safety concerns and saying it would only make debate over an unpleasant task more emotional.

But McDonald said: "We've never said there's no struggle or stress. I can't think of any technique where there's no pain or stress."

Activists remain opposed to any deer killing. Instead, Hindi advocates birth control darts or anesthesia and tubal ligation, which he said can be performed in the field.

The district says birth control darts are experimental and should not be used until the deer numbers are brought down.

Deer tape shows painful scenes

The Chicago Animal Rights Coalition showed a videotape Tuesday that representatives said was taken by a timed camera Jan. 9 in the Greene Valley Forest Preserve near Naperville.

In the first scene, several deer feed quietly in a clearing at dusk. Suddenly, rockets explode, shooting a net over the animals.

The deer leap into the air, one completely flipping and landing on its back, as the net falls over them.

In a second capture, as deer try to run away, one's head is dragged underneath it. It lies motionless before getting up and bucking convulsively under the ropes.

In both cases, the deer bucked or lay under the net bleating as people went from one to the other.

Activists said the workers killed the deer by shooting a three-inch bolt into their skulls repeatedly until the deer stopped struggling.

Forest preserve spokesman Brook McDonald said viewers could not tell whether the people were forest preserve workers, or if they were applying radio collars instead of killing deer.

One of the deer was trapped under the net for at least 15 minutes. One eventually got free and ran away.

Forest Preserve Commissioner Dewey Pierotti Jr. said the worst part was hearing what wounded like a deer being clubbed, the bleating against before a worker killed it.

McDonald said the workers have never clubbed deer.

Immediate Death is aim

The forest preserve's net-and-bolt method of deer capture involves baiting an area with corn and shooting a large net over the animals. The net is propelled by gunpowder-like charges.

One worker then holds down a deer's hindquarters, another hold the head, and a third shoots a 3-inch metal bolt into the animals' skull. When aimed properly, this should cause immediate death, District spokesman Brook McDonald said.

The procedure follows guidelines by the American Veterinary Medical Association.