NYS DEC has changed the conditions on the Wildlife Rehabilitator’s License.  Fawns and the adult deer are no longer able to be helped by the trained professionals.  These new conditions were put in motion this January 2016 by a small group of DEC employees in Albany’s Big Game Unit overseen by the Director Patricia Riexinger.  No one had to approve the modifications, only this small group sitting at the table.  They are not laws or regulations that required any justification; they can make changes through the conditions to whatever they personally believe in or what makes their job easier.   

We can’t save all the animals, but now New York State is teaching our young people that the answer to an orphaned fawn is a bullet in their head.  When a deer gets hit in the road and is sitting there alive, you must now wait for the DEC Officers to show up, shoot it and remove it from traffic before a second accident occurs.  This could take hours for a response.  If the local police, the Sheriffs or the State Police step in to expedite the situation, we the tax payers now must pay for this service.  They will be rerouted from their jobs, to shooting an animal and removing the body from the path of yet another auto.  Licensed Wildlife Rehabbers provided this service free of charge and with a quick response at any hour of the day, any day of the week.

Personally I don’t want to teach our young people that this is the right solution.  Technology has advanced and has put wildlife in jeopardy. We should take on some responsibility for these changes that are adversely effecting the environment.  When a fawn becomes orphaned, there should be a better solution that killing them in front of the public.  Up until a couple months ago, you would have called a rehabber to come and help a deer in trouble.  They can no longer offer this free service to the public.    

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has lost sight of their mission and what their true job is; environmental conservation. They also do not convey this priority to people who accept positions in the main Albany Office.  In this Office they are responsible for the overall health and condition of the “environment”.  This includes teaching our young people respect for the Earth: its people, its plants and animals and the natural systems on which all life depends.

Why would this group eliminate a free service that offered solutions to injured, sick and orphaned animals?  Killing the deer in trouble is not the answer and they need to justify why they chose to take away from all of us our rights to help deer while costing us higher tax dollars for a bad solution.  Sign this petition to help the rehabbers remove all the new conditions from their wildlife licenses.  All injured animals deserve humane treatment.