Letter to the Editor: Deer Hunting Alternatives Not Explored

To the Editor:

Over the nine years I’ve lived in Weston I have felt pretty good about our town government. However, I recently attended a couple of Conservation Commission meetings that left me feeling very concerned and disappointed.  They were the last two of a series of meetings to discuss with town residents the possibility of managing Weston’s deer population.

I walked into the Feb. 16 meeting fully expecting that the Commission would explore all of the deer management options carefully. I assumed they would try their best to find a humane solution if possible. The first thing I saw when I entered the meeting room was a table covered with deer antlers and pro-hunting brochures. There was not a single leaflet about humane alternatives. During the meeting two “specialists” gave presentations about how to manage the deer population.

Both presentations were pro-hunting. One specialist was so excited about killing the deer that he showed us slides of dead deer piled high with hunters standing around them looking delighted. He also showed his 14-year-old-son holding a rifle with a dead deer draped over his lap. He told us that his son is his hero because he is carrying on a time honored male tradition.

The Commission had neglected to invite specialists from the humane community such as the Humane Society of the U.S. They didn’t bother to include speakers who could present non-lethal alternatives such as Dr. Allen Rutberg from Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine who has developed a vaccine that has been used successfully to lower the fertility rate in deer populations. By the end of the meeting it became clear that the Commission favored the cruelest management option of them all, bow hunting.

After the meeting I went home and did some of my own research. I learned that bow hunting is not only extremely cruel (more than half the deer shot with an arrow don’t die instantly. Some suffer for days), it’s also dangerous (arrows can travel the length of a football field) and ineffective (this method can actually backfire and increase fertility in deer creating a need for more and more hunting). The worrisome facts and figures I found didn’t seem to be showing up in the Commission’s presentations.

I also attended the Commission’s final deer meeting on May 17. At the beginning of the meeting residents were invited to share comments and ask questions. Many people walked up to the microphone and stated that they were opposed to lethal solutions, especially bow hunting. During the Commission’s deliberations all humane alternatives were quickly dismissed for one reason or another and any concerns associated with bow hunting were downplayed. 

When residents tried to question them about their bias toward bow hunting they offered illogical answers such as, people have been hunting on this land for centuries so we should too. (Just because people have done something for a long time doesn’t mean it’s right for this time.) And, if you eat meat that comes from inhumane factory farms you really don’t have the right to speak out against bow hunting (two wrongs don’t make a right).

One Commission member also piped in that he is looking forward to taking up bow hunting. In the end, the Commission voted unanimously to recommend bow hunting in Weston. They voted for the cruelest solution and had no interest in taking more time to investigate the alternatives more thoroughly.

This was the first town government meeting my teenage son had ever attended. I was sorry he did. Our town government can do better than this. I wanted my son to see a Commission that does responsible research and takes into account the concerns of residents before making a decision. And most importantly, I wanted him to see a Commission that shows a greater sense of compassion when making decisions about wildlife in our community. I hope the Selectmen will watch recordings of the meetings so they can see how this decision was reached and then set aside the Commission’s recommendation. 

Gandhi said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” I think Gandhi would have shed some tears if he had attended Weston’s Conservation Commission meetings. I sure did.

Diane Anderson,
Kings Grant Road