A demonstration will be held at Valley Forge Park on Sunday November 7th from 2:00-4:00PM, in the Lower Welcome Center Parking Lot to oppose the park’s deer management plan.
On Wednesday October 27, 2010 the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled to approve the use of sharpshooters to kill more than 80% of the white-tailed deer who live at Valley Forge National Historical Park over the next four years. The surviving deer would purportedly be subjected to pharmaceutical birth control in five to six years as according to the judge’s acceptance of the park’s plan.
Upon reading the courts decision, Lee Hall of Friends of Animals, asked “In five to six years, are we going to have every animal on public lands controlled the way we want them to be controlled? Because I think there’s a macabre, Disneyesque aspect to that.”
Matthew McLaughlin, Director of the Pennsylvania Chapter of Friends of Animals, stated, “It’s appalling that sharpshooters will be allowed into the park in the name of respecting scenery and monuments.”
Friends of Animals and the West Chester based group Compassion for Animals-Respect for the Environment (CARE) will appeal the court’s decision.