Rescue Organization Says DEC's Ruling on Helping White-Tailed Deer 'Draconian'

HAMPTON BAYS, NY - After what they called a "draconian" measure by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, one animal rescue group in Hampton Bays filed a lawsuit to protect their injured charges.

The Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center, in Hampton Bays, licensed by the NYSDEC and United States Fish & Wildlife Service, said in February, all wildlife rehabilitators in New York State received new licenses containing new conditions, prohibiting the Center from accepting adult white tailed deer for rehabilitation, "with no notice or warning," said Virginia Frati, Executive Director of the Center.

"It is important that that public understand that the effects of this will be detrimental to the wildlife, deer, in New York State and especially here on the East End of Long Island where we are proud of our preservation of natural land, habitat and wildlife. This new condition is not only inhumane and cruel, it goes against our purpose as wildlife rehabilitators," she said. "If deer are injured or hit by a car, we don't argue about the deer population. We just try to help all animals."

Under the new constraints, Frati said if a call comes in about an injured adult deer, that deer must be euthanized, or a call made to law enforcement, who will destroy the deer with a firearm.

"This is something I have worked tirelessly for 20 years to stop, particularly having witnessed this on several occasions when it was absolutely not warranted and clearly not a humane death," said Frati.

In order to put the brakes on the new conditions, Frati said the group went to New York State Supreme Court in Riverhead last week, where a case before Robert Quinlan sought a temporary restraining order against the NYSDEC.

The Wildlife Center was granted a partial TRO as it pertained only to the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center, not the rest of New York State — and only for one deer that the Center had already been caring for on its property. Other deer that are being cared for or rescued by wildlife organizations were to have been euthanized by May 15, she said.

The next court date to address the remainder of the conditions will take place on June 14.

"For 20 years, we've been responding to injured deer, trying to stop police from shooting them and coming out at all hours of the night to either euthanize them humanely or take them in for treatment," Frati said. "This is a free service. It doesn't cost the taxpayers anything. This is very distressing."

In addition, she said, the new ruling, "takes a way 20 years of my work."

The Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center, Inc., is a not-for profit organization that relies on volunteers and donations to further its mission in preserving and protecting wildlife by providing rehabilitation services to injured animals in order to release them back to the wild.

For 20 years it has offered a 24- hour hotline for citizens to notify the Wildlife Rescue Center of any hurt animals in need of assistance, she said.

The Wildlife Rescue Center holds a license issued by the DEC, which allows wildlife rehabilitators to possess wildlife in order to rehabilitate them and return them to the wild, Frati said.

"Licensed and trained individuals who respond to animals in distress often keep the public safe from potentially dangerous situations," she said.

Frati said the DEC rules were amended "with no notice, no reason, and no opportunity for public comment," effectively forbidding wildlife rehabilitators statewide from transporting, caring for and rehabilitating adult white tailed deer.

"Under these draconian rules," wildlife rescuers must now release severely injured deer, that cannot survive on their own, or euthanize them, she said; rescue groups can no longer accept any white-tailed deer for treatment, after February 10.

"This also means police can no longer contact wildlife rehabilitators, such as the Rescue Center, if a deer is hurt, and must shoot the deer on site, even if it is in a public area. If a deer is tangled in a fence, rehabilitators are allowed to untangle it only. If it is even slightly injured, the police must shoot it on site, and cannot call the Center's hotline to pick up and assist the deer," Frati said.

In addition, police must shoot the deer despite the serious public safety issue — people will stop if they see hurt deer and try to give them assistance, creating potential car accidents and creating unnecessary and uncalled for public safety issues, she said.

"Fawns, while allowed to be accepted for rehabilitation, must be released by September 15, whether they are severely injured or not, to die on their own, be killed by hunters or to be euthanized," Frati said. "This means that even if the fawn was brought in for medical attention on September 11 the rule requires that it be released by September 15 regardless of its health status."

The Article 78, Frati said, was commenced on May 12.

There are more than 1,400 wildlife rehabilitators in the same situation, Frati said, who "desperately need the DEC rules to be found unenforceable and without any validity. . . Not only was I shocked and appalled, all the wildlife rehabilitators in New York State who take in deer are outraged. I'm also on the Board of Directors of the N.Y.S. Wildlife Rehabilitation Council. They are outraged as well that they were neither consulted nor notified of such a drastic change in conditions."

The DEC, she said, claims that adult deer kept in captivity become habituated to humans and present a problem for the public. "If this is the case, why are we still allowed to accept fawns? This is never true for adult deer; I can attest to this in my 20 years’ experience in rehabbing adult deer."

Patricia Riexinger, of the Bureau of Fish & Wildlife, NYSDEC, did not return a request for comment.

Frati has created a petition; to sign, click here.