Jeers to Virginia officials for expanding the 2025-26 hunting season to include the state’s newest park. Virginia’s Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR) will offer a hunt on Dec. 1 & 2 at Machicomoco State Park.

Hunting, which is a crime against nature, is already widespread in Virginia’s state parks, expanding across 17 locations.

So why drag Machicomoco into this?

Even though hunting overall is going extinct, every time non-human and human animals get a new park—in this case, one which “provides diverse wildlife habitats, from open fields to woodlands and waterfront/marsh areas supporting deer, turkey, and many species of songbirds and birds of prey”—hunters are invited to stroll in and shoot the place up.

A local resident who frequents the park with friends and on solo birding excursions, and has “always considered it a place of peace,” told Friends of Animals they were heartbroken to hear the announcement. “Why can’t there even be places of peace in state parks?”

It’s ignorant that Virginia thinks the best way to celebrate Machicomoco is by converting it to a shooting range.

If you think Machicomoco’s wild residents deserve better, help us sound off: tell officials to call off this hunt! You can reach the park directly at machicomoco@dcr.virginia.gov. Or you can contact DCA Director, Matthew Wells by calling 804-786-6124 or sending an email to matthew.wells@dcr.virginia.gov.