AR-News: (US-NY) More on deer crushing incident

[Ronda Roaring]

>From Valerie Will:

> The witnesses to this horrific thing called Animal Advocates of WNY. We did
> an investigation and were shocked by our findings. The State Police had
> been called, the officer went to the Aurora Town Barns across from the
> scene....a huge highlift was driven over to the deer as she lay there
> looking around. According to a witness, the highlift driver drove up to the
> deer, stopped, stood up and checked his tire alignment, and then proceeded
> to drive over the deer, crushing her--I will spare you some of the gruesome
> details. Please write to the State Police and the Supervisor of the town
> and demand an honest investigation as well as a program set in place to
> educate officers and town workers on humane treatment of animals and demand
> humane treatment of injured wildlife:
> 
> NYS Police Headquarters
> Bldg. 22
> 1220 Washington Avenue
> Albany, New York 12226-2252
> 
> Supervisor Terrence Yarnall
> Town Council of Aurora
> 5 South Grove Street
> East Aurora, New York 14052

Contact info:
> Aurora Supervisor Terence M. Yarnall
> Town Hall
> 5 South Grove Street
> East Aurora NY 14052
>
> Phone: 716 652-7590
> Fax 716 652-3507
> E-Mail: supervisor at townofaurora.com



> 
> The following is a longer article than was sent out across the State:
> >
> > >
> > > http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040428/1027542.asp
> > >
> >
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --
> > ----
> >
> >
> > Buffalo News - Deer crushed by town high-lift horrifies witnesses, AURORA
> > Deer crushed by town high-lift horrifies witnesses,
> spurs
> > call for investigation
> > By KAREN ROBINSON
> > News Southtowns Bureau
> > 4/28/2004
> >
> > When passersby saw a piece of heavy construction
> equipment
> > rolling toward an injured deer in Aurora earlier this month, they assumed
> > the operator was going to use the lift on the front of the vehicle to pick
> > up the animal.
> > Instead, they were horrified to see the vehicle run over
> > the animal, crushing it to death.
> >
> > A town official called the incident inadvertent and
> > apologized, but witnesses say they are still bothered - almost
> traumatized -
> > by what they saw. And now an animal rights group wants an investigation.
> >
> > "We shouldn't crush deer like bags of garbage," said
> > Valerie Will, humane educator and former head of the Animal Advocates of
> > Western New York. "If the deer kept raising its head at cars, imagine what
> > it felt when it saw a high-lift coming at it?"
> >
> > Town officials say the animal's legs had been shattered
> > from being struck by a car and its death was inevitable.
> >
> > Even so, observers say the deer didn't deserve this
> fate.
> >
> > David Wahl was walking out of his dentist's office at
> 250
> > Quaker Road around noon that Friday and was about 20 feet away when the
> > scene unfolded. The East Aurora resident described the sound as
> "sickening."
> >
> > Another witness also was horrified by the action -
> > particularly when observers said they figured the high-lift they saw
> > emerging from the Aurora town highway garage was coming to scoop up the
> > injured deer and take it away.
> >
> > "Out came this gigantic high-lift with a scoop, and we
> > thought they'd move her since it was along a busy road," said Lynette M.
> > Franz, head teller at the Bank of Holland, who first notified police of
> the
> > injured deer. "He starts coming, and comes closer, and I thought, "Oh, my
> > God, he's going to run her over.' "
> >
> > "And then he ran her over," Franz said, breaking into
> > tears, as she recalled the incident during an interview. "He ran over the
> > middle of her body. She began thrashing all around and then he scooped her
> > up and took her away. That was just wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong."
> >
> > Franz, who hunts deer with her husband and three sons,
> > said she had to walk away after she witnessed it.
> >
> > "That just didn't have to happen. That was one of the
> most
> > violent things I have ever seen in my entire life," she said.
> >
> > Aurora Supervisor Terence M. Yarnall said it was a
> mistake
> > when the highway worker rolled over the deer as he operated the high-lift.
> > "That was totally inadvertent," Yarnall said. "That was not an intentional
> > act."
> >
> > The bank driveway is narrow, and with traffic stopped,
> the
> > driver had a hard time negotiating the high-lift, Yarnall said.
> >
> > "He inadvertently ran over the deer. (He) did everything
> > he could to get the deer scooped up," he said. "I'm sorry people witnessed
> > it."
> >
> > After that, the deer was picked up and taken behind the
> > town highway barns.
> >
> > A state trooper from Aurora's state police substation on
> > Route 20A, across the road from where the deer was lying, decided not to
> > shoot the deer because he feared his gun's bullet might ricochet in a
> > congested area, a spokesman said.
> >
> > Now, Animal Advocates is calling on the town and state
> > police to investigate the incident. The organization also is asking that
> > town employees and police be better educated about using more humane
> > solutions whenever possible and consider contacting wildlife
> rehabilitators.
> >
> > "It's too late for this deer, but we'd like to see a
> > protocol set up so it doesn't happen again," Will said.
> > e-mail: krobinson at buffnews.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
>


		
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