Save Our Deer: Science Over Slaughter

URGENT! There will be an open discussion at the Sept 4th Poughkeepsie Town Board meeting about Vassar's deer killing. This will be a key meeting with all Town Board members and the public. You can appear and speak at the meeting in person or online. A new and important opportunity , as many Board members are now sympathetic and seem more willing to take action. More information will be up at the end of August on the Town Board's website below, and here on Facebook.

Town Board | Poughkeepsie Town, NY Find more information on the Town Board.

Visiting Vermont with my sister and brother-in-law!

HOW MANY DEER DID VASSAR SLAUGHTER THIS YEAR?
No one knows yet, because Vassar won't disclose it, so we wait months for the number obtained through Freedom of Information Law request.

The Miscellany News posted just one online comment to their article, despite several comments that were sent. But you can make comments here on their FB page. Click on The Miscellany News below, go to this January 26 article, and comment. Let's see if they delete them.

"Prior to Winter Break, the Poughkeepsie organization Save Our Deer (SOD) demonstrated on the corner of Raymond Avenue and Collegeview Avenue to call on the Vassar administration to suspend cullings, or mass killings, of deer at the Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve. The cullings are part of a deer management program with the goal of maintaining biodiversity at the preserve by controlling the population of deer, according to the administration. SOD argues that the killings are cruel and lack a sound scientific basis."

Read Will Sorge’s “Save Our Deer continues anti-culling efforts” by clicking the link below.

📸 Allison Lowe/The Miscellany News.



https://miscellanynews.org/2024/01/24/news/save-our-deer-continues-anti-culling-efforts/

The NY-DEC published this today:

"Consequences of Feeding Deer in the Winter:
Now that white-tailed deer hunting seasons have ended throughout most of New York State, it may be tempting to begin feeding deer to “help” them through the winter. However, feeding deer during the winter or other times of the year is unnecessary, prohibited in New York, and can have very negative consequences for deer, your neighbors, and surrounding wildlife habitat.

If deer are provided with unnatural food sources such as corn or hay after this change in diet has occurred it can result in deer becoming ill or even their death."

Another piece if hypocrisy, as they don't mention that corn is typically used to bait deer in, as Vassar does. I guess if you're then going to kill them with high-powered rifles doesn't matter what they eat.

Vassar's student newspaper, The Miscellany News, just published this article. Hopefully will increase awareness and opposition to the deer slaughter. Please comment on their site!

Save Our Deer continues anti-culling efforts Prior to Winter Break, the Poughkeepsie organization Save Our Deer (SOD) demonstrated on the corner of Raymond Avenue and Collegeview Avenue to call on the Vassar administration to suspend cullings, or mass killings, of deer at the Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve. The cullings are part of a deer

The NY-DEC just rightly charged this sadistic hunter with baiting deer, which is illegal. They state:
"Hunting with the aid of bait is unlawful and unethical. It gives the hunter an unfair advantage by luring the targeted game to an unnatural food source. Additionally, multiple deer feeding out of the same bait pile can spread disease amongst the herd."

And yet they supply Vassar with two hunters who bait and shoot deer in the Preserve.

URGENT!

The tents are up and the killing may start within hours. This is sadistic, unwarranted, and all orchestrated by chic, progressive Vassar College.

CALL PRESIDENT BRADLEY @845-437-7200 AND PRESERVE MANAGER KERI VANCAMP @845-437-7414

The baiting is happening and the killing will start in about a week. We need to do whatever possible to stop this!

CALL PRESIDENT BRADLEY @845-437-7200 AND PRESERVE MANAGER KERI VANCAMP @845-437-7414

Protesting the upcoming deer slaughter during the last weekend of classes at Vassar. Still a chance to stop this senseless killing.

Corn used as bait, and a klller’s tent just yards away at Vassar Preserve. No need for this barbarism, but it may happen again soon if we don’t stop it.

Hunters in Maine were upset because the mass shooter was going to hold up the start of hunting season tomorrow. They're all happy that he's been found dead so they can now go out and start murdering countless other beings. The irony of this is incredible.

Manhunt could affect the opening of fi****ms season for deer By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff The state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is discussing whether to postpone opening day of fi****ms season for deer because of a massive manhunt in central Maine. Police are looking for Robert R.

Beautiful deer yesterday in Springside Park in Poughkeepsie. Will she still be alive next winter or murdered by Vassar?

Following up on the MoMA NYC protest, we had a small group at Vassar’s Alumni House during an opening event. Good response from some alumni we talked to.

We informed hundreds of Vassar alumni at this May 11 MoMA gala in NYC about the hidden deer killing that most were unaware of. Many were surprised and disturbed by this annual slaughter, and hopefully some will let President Bradley know that it needs to stop. Thanks to all who came to this informative protest. Watch the videos at this protest to see how desperate Vassar is to keep this hidden.

Michele Tugade is a Psychology Professor at Vassar. This month in the "Vassar Everywhere" section on the Vassar.edu Community page is a link to an article she just wrote for Psychology Today, "On the Joy and Wonder of Connecting With Nature". Tugade writes:

"Awaken the Wild: Share Outdoor Time with Animals:
Spending time with animals shows respect and gratitude for all living beings, wild and tame. Interacting with animals can increase trust, self-confidence, empathy, and compassion, while reducing anxiety and fear."

It's a wonderful article but another example of the stunning hypocrisy of President Bradley, who now travels around promoting their "Fearlessly Consequential" publicity campaign. For the deer we're going to start a "Fearfully Consequential" campaign.

Here are the basics of the atrocious deer killing by Vassar:

-Yearly killing at the Preserve started in 2010. Since then deer have been slaughtered almost every year, a total of 263.

-25 were shot this January

-The deer are baited with corn for weeks before the shooting starts. This greatly and artificially increases the number of deer in the Preserve available to kill while they are eating. Fawns are also killed.

-A terrible disease (EHD) significantly lowered the population of deer in the region, starting in 2020, and confirmed by the NY-DEC. Despite this, Vassar has not stopped their killing.

-Vassar students and alumni are not given information about this and have no say in whether it is cruel and should end.

-We only obtain information by a Freedom of Information request. It is stunning to read, and not readily available.

-Vassar pays the USDA shooters about $10-14k every year for this atrocity.

Please see the many posts below to see more of the history of this. We hope you will join in stopping it. President Bradley is the final decision maker.

This is Evan, a groundskeeper at Vassar. He was a hunter, and this FB photo is not at Vassar, but somewhere in the Poughkeepsie region. The other day I saw him coming out of the campus with his wife. I said "I know you, you're a deer killer". Rather than lash back, he calmly told he had stopped hunting, it bothered him. Then he said he's actually now vegan. His wife, who seemed like a kind person, nodded and smiled. Was he telling the truth? I don't know, but my instinct told me he was.

BREAKING NEWS: 25 MORE DEER SLAUGHTERED!

The numbers have been obtained through a FOIL request--in January Vassar slaughtered 25 deer by luring them into the Preserve with corn and shooting them. You don't have to be the one pulling the trigger to be the killer. It's on the shoulders of President Bradley and directors Keri VanCamp and Marianne Begemann.

A clip from a video by hunters who use the same night vision scopes that Vassar's hired deer killers use.

✂️ Night Vision Deer Killers 60 seconds · Clipped by Larry Trepel · Original video "Night Vision Deer Hunting (2 Kills!)" by Blake Jeffers

Several people spoke online and through Zoom at the Poughkeepsie Town Board meeting last night (February 1), about the night shooting at Vassar Preserve. It happened right next to the high school while many students were there for a game. Incredible carelessness. Go to minute 49:00 to hear a presentation and Zoom comment, then skip to 58:10 to hear another comment that puts the whole killing in perspective.

https://youtu.be/14dX8xgoZ9w

Town Board Meeting 2-1-23

Incredibly, on January 13th the Vassar shooter was in the tent, set up to kill in the dark while the Our Lady of Lourdes High School had many students and parents walking around because of an event that night. The school borders the Vassar Preserve, and the shooter aims in that general direction along the perimeter of the Preserve. In the map below you’ll see a red circle showing where the tent was, just a couple of hundred yards from the school property. The shooter was aiming in the same general direction along the borderline.

Vassar's deer killing started last night. This tent has USDA shooters using high-powered night scope rifles. Horrific and murderous. Please contact Town officials and tell them to demand that Vassar end it.

Vassar deer killing starts any day now. At January 5 Town Board meeting Larry Trepel and Dannielle Mattes spoke out against it. Go to minute 33:00. Please write or call Town Board members (info in previous post) to stop this atrocity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s891ITz--E

Town Board Meeting 1-4-23

URGENT! Please email Town Board Members and ask them to tell Vassar to stop the killing that will start days from now. Below are email addresses and phone numbers. You don't need to live in Poughkeepsie to voice your opinion. On the positive side, keep in mind several board members already are disturbed by the killing, so treat all with respect but urge them to act. You can also call during appropriate working hours.

Jay Baisley (Supervisor)
[email protected]
845-485-3701

Jeff Renihan
[email protected]
845-629-9029

Bill Carlos
[email protected]
845-790-5242

Anne Burger
[email protected]
845-625-7618

Michael Cifone
[email protected]
845-473-1588

Steve Krakower
[email protected]
845-462-4336

Ann Shershin
[email protected]
845-483-0899

Do Humans Owe Animals Equal Rights? Martha Nussbaum Thinks So. “To give animals recognition as persons under constitutional law would be the goal,” says the esteemed author of a new book on animal justice.

There’s an estimated 35 million deer in the U.S., about one-tenth the number of humans. But Vassar’s President Bradley and Manager Keri VanCamp decide every year to kill them because there’s just “too many” in the Preserve. Outright murder.

Deer Population by State: How Many Deer are in the U.S.? From white tails to mules, the deer population by state varies but is limited to a scant few species. Here's what you'll find in the U.S.