Once again, the horrific slaughter of deer in our state parks will occur this week. Ridley Creek State Park actually had an extra day, last week! I was UNAWARE of this or would have asked people to call in right at that time.
Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to coordinate this in a couple of years, but these parks need to hear from us. The state parks are paid for by everyone who lives in PA, and this heinous activity has been going on for decades, with the alleged purpose of controlling the deer population. The true purpose, as is obvious from previous notations on park websites and in newspaper articles, is to allow an “opportunity” for hunters to take home a trophy. THEY HAVE A CHANCE AT AN EASY KILL IN PLACES WHERE THE DEER ARE HABITUATED TO HUMAN FOOT TRAFFIC.
Case in point: the hunts are always during buck season. There is a relatively short season where male deer can be killed, because even our illustrious and hunter–run Pennsylvania game commission recognizes that killing the males does NOT control the population. There are numerous scientific studies regarding this. Even one remaining male can impregnate many females, and killing the males serves only to provide trophy heads for those who enjoy gathering them. This is something that can be mentioned in your comments. If they really wanted to keep the population down, they would do this another time of year – though of course I would still vehemently oppose it.
Please be polite and respectful when you call or email, even though they don’t listen to us either way. Dismissing us as “crazy” is the easiest way for them to continue with this rotten process. Anyone interested in resuscitating our previous “take back our parks“ campaign, to try to get this stopped – though I don’t have high hopes – please let me know.
Please call or email on the actual day of the slaughter at each park – Wednesday at Tyler State Park and Thursday at Ridley Creek State Park. Contact info is shown below. Also summaries of the slaughters can be found by clicking on the park links.
The main reason to call on the actual day, not just any time – though emails really could be sent at anytime – is that park personnel hang out with the hunters, joke with them, measure the dead deer, and provide free coffee and snacks – it’s a big party for them (I’ve been there, it’s beyond sickening). So interrupting this and letting them know that there is an organized opposition, is very important.
I often ask for the body count, how many trophy bucks were killed, what proof they have that the population isn’t constantly rebounding (of course it is, or they wouldn’t be doing this year after year after year), etc, etc. Of course you can say or ask anything you want. Thanks to anyone who can take a few minutes to do this!
Take care, Jenny
Tyler State Park
101 Swamp Road
Newtown, PA 18940-1151
Phone: 215-968-2021
Manager: Corey Snyder
E-mail: tylersp@pa.gov
Ridley Creek State Park
1023 Sycamore Mills Road
Media, PA 19063-4398
Phone: 610-892-3900
Manager: Phillip Schmidt
E-mail: ridleycreeksp@pa.gov