Lawmaker Calls For Hunting Ban Near Refuge Where Deer Was Shot

HAMPTON BAYS, NY — One week after a deer was shot near the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center in Hampton Bays, a lawmaker is calling for a ban on hunting in the area.

Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming said she has called upon the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation "to suspend hunting in that location."

The DEC did not immediately return a request for comment on the proposed ban.

The problem is not new, said Virginia Frati said, executive director of the wildlife rescue center. For about 20 years, she said she has been imploring Suffolk County officials to terminate an agreement that allows hunters to traverse a strip of county-owned land to reach the New York State-sanctioned Henry's Hollow hunting area adjacent to that parcel.

Fleming said she looked forward to reviewing the results of investigations by the DEC and Southampton Town Police, that are currently underway, "so that we can make sound decisions about whether the agreement between the Suffolk County Parks Department and the DEC should be reconsidered."

The DEC told Patch earlier on Tuesday that an investigation is ongoing and charges are pending against the hunter who shot the deer on January 4. According to a DEC representative, appropriate charges are still being determined.

According to the NYSDEC, environmental conservation officers Jacob Clark and Rob McCabe received a complaint from workers at the wildlife rescue center in Hampton Bays about a hunter who shot a deer on their property. The officers responded and found a deer near the animal holding area behind the center, the DEC said.

The ECOs questioned the hunter, a man from Central Islip, who said he entered from a legal hunting co-op parking spot and had mistakenly walked into an area where hunting is prohibited, the DEC said.

The DEC environmental conservation officers also found bullet holes in the fence and damage to a door of an animal housing and storage shed, the DEC said.

Additionally ECO Christopher DeRose and K-9 Cramer also responded and found three spent shotgun shells within 500 feet of the occupied buildings, the DEC said.

It is illegal to discharge a firearm within 500 feet of a structure in use unless you own it, lease it, or have the owner's permission, according to the DEC's website.

Describing the gunshots that rang out outside the rescue center last week, Frati said she was horrified by what she found when she ran outside to investigate.

"I saw that a hunter had shot a deer which was lying, still alive, near our raccoon pens," she said.

The two loud gunshots were heard at about 9:30 a.m., Frati said. She picked up the deer, her arms, face, pants and glasses covered with its blood, and tried in vain to save it, she said. But despite her best attempts, the deer died.

"It was the most horrible, traumatic thing I've ever experienced," Frati said. "I was just sobbing."

Frati was also working to try and stop the hunter who had been seen standing about 40 feet from the rescue center after he'd shot the deer.

"I said, 'What are you doing? Do you know where you are? You're at a wildlife hospital,'" she said.
He told her he had gotten lost and was sorry, she said.

Frati said she asked the man to follow her inside so that they could call the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation but by the time she was done trying to help the deer, the hunter was gone. He was eventually found near the parking area just south of Bellows Pond Road by the Southampton Town Police and the DEC, Frati said.

On Tuesday, Frati said cars are still parked in the same spot; hunters are still going out at night. "They don't care," she said.

While some have suggested a fence be erected around the wildlife rescue center, Frati said that would be costly and also, the property extends back about a half mile, as does the Munns County nature trail, so the fence would have to extend for some distance. The fear is that hikers and others on the trail might also be in danger due to the close proximity of hunters, Frati said.

Even a park ranger who stopped by after the shooting, himself a hunter, was "appalled" at how close the shots came to the facility, Frati said. Although the hunter had been about 40 feet away, "The deer dropped to the ground literally three feet from one of our cages," she said.

When the shots were fired, one slug went through a cage and came close to workers at the wildlife rescue, missing by just a few feet, she added.

"There should not be a hunting area near a wildlife center," Frati said. "That's like putting a porn shop or an adult book store next to a children's playground."

Frati reached out with an email to Suffolk County Commissioner of Parks Jason Smagin. Smagin did not immediately return a request for comment by Patch.

Meanwhile, at the wildlife rescue center, staffers are mourning the deer. Frati hopes to set up a memorial on the facility's property, and another staffer hopes to get a tattoo in its memory.

"Everyone is heartbroken," Frati said. "It's terrible."

The only solace lies in the prospect of change, Frati said: "Hopefully, the deer won't have died in vain. Maybe they will realize they can't have hunting so close to a wildlife hospital."