A Need For Science

And Reasoning

To the Editor:

At the selectmen’s meeting December 15, we had nonresidents from hunting clubs given the opportunity to speak, they were able to share their views on how they would like to be able to hunt deer on Newtown open spaces. Yet the board chose to cancel a spokesperson from the Humane Society US to speak to the residents of Newtown, educating them on Lyme disease prevention at the 11th hour. This seems to me somewhat calculated and deceitful. Finally, one of the selectman spoke up to advocate for the representation of local residents. I did not understand or find the reasoning why these nonresidents were here to speak except to show their interest in hunting in Newtown’s open spaces.

We need to help people deal with and prevent Lyme disease, not throw untested and unproven ideas at it.  The science of culling does not seem to be working. In towns that have completely killed all the deer, there is still Lyme disease because Lyme disease is carried by many hosts, including dozens of bird species and all mammals.

We need to bring science and ethical reasoning to the table. There does not look to be a quick fix for this. Almost everyone has been or has had someone effected by this horrible disease. Officials need to find alternative ways to deal with this problem.

This is not a hunting issue. It’s about deer cull, which is very similar to a “canned” hunt. In a cull, the deer are baited with food, often for weeks beforehand, to ensure the deer show up when the hunters are ready to cull. When the deer come to feed, they are then shot by a sharpshooter who is waiting for them perched in a tree. The “net and bolt” method lures deer through corn meal and the deer are then caught in a net, held down by several hunters, and killed with a skull-puncturing device.

It is alarming that the companies that are being brought in to do the culls have an in with the selectmen here and in other local towns even before the public has had a chance to bring their view to our officials.

I’m also concerned because there has been no mention of oversight by the Humane Society or any another animal advocacy group. Bow hunting has a 40–60 percent crippling rate (deer crippled, not killed).  The suffering caused by “net and bolt” or bow hunting is unspeakable, and unacceptable to this taxpayer in Newtown. There has to be a more humane conscious way.

Lynn Printy

135 Boggs Hill Road, Newtown December 17, 2008