Letters needed: Akron Deer Kill Update

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SharkIntl @ aol.com

Rita Fazio

Friday, May 28, 2004 11:14 AM

Akron Deer Kill Update

Dear Friends,Regarding the news articles Steve Hindi wrote about a few days ago, the Solon Herald Sun newspaper unfortunately does not always print entire articles on its website. So, below are parts of the two that were written about SHARK without any opportunity for SHARK to respond.SHARK President Steve Hindi and investigator Colleen Gardner will be traveling back to Akron next week to deal with the Akron deer kill and subsequent tampering with our equipment (at the hands of Metro Parks rangers and animal serial killer Anthony DeNicola) as it was being held as evidence. There will be updates posted to our list. While in the area, they will attempt to meet with both Mary Jane Skala and Linda Kinsey, and we will also update you on that situation.Meanwhile, below is a link to and part of the first article. Under that is an excerpt

from the second article. Both include mention of SHARK, and both are written by Bob Sandrick, who told Steve Hindi that he was ordered by Mary Jane Skala not to contact SHARK.http://www.sunnews.com/news/2004/part1/0429/EDEER.htm Deer plan calls for culling By BOB SANDRICK Staff WriterApril 29, 2004 The city is edging toward a deer management plan that will likely involve lethal (sharpshooting and captive bolt) and non-lethal methods. On Monday, City Council may authorize seeking bids from companies that write and execute such plans. On April 21, council's Safety and Public Properties Committee recommended that approach. The problem is that only one firm — White Buffalo Inc. in Connecticut — appears capable of handling the job. "I know of no other

company that does this," Police Chief Wayne Godzich said. Councilman Ed Suit said he was concerned that White Buffalo had a corner on the market, "but we don't have much of a choice. What is the alternative, short of doing nothing? And we can't do nothing." City officials still seem uncertain over how to proceed. Initially, the committee wanted to send "requests for proposals," or RFPs, to White Buffalo and others — even though administration officials and some council members knew that White Buffalo is the only known company that culls deer.Further down the article includes the following, which is not on the paper's website:Council may also pass legislation that would prevent anyone from interfering with culling. The committee asked Police Prosecutor Blair Melling and Law Director David Matty to

look into the matter.Suit and Scott – not committee members – are concerned that an Illinois animal rights organization called Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, or SHARK, might come to Solon to protest culling.This part of the article strongly insinuates that SHARK interfered with Akron's mass slaughter, and that is absolutely false. The newspaper should have contacted us and given us a chance to rebut this nonsense, to redeem our reputation and to talk about what really happened to the deer and to our equipment which was tampered with while it was held as evidence.The following is the second article. This is a small article within a larger one that basically was a praise piece for DeNicola. We think the people of Solon should know that this man gets police to let him tamper with equipment that is supposed to be secured.endMay 13, 2004White Buffalo: deer won't sufferBy BOB SANDRICKStaff

WriterAnthony DeNicola, head of the wildlife management firm White Buffalo Inc., denied accusations from an animal rights group that deer suffered under his hand.A Illinois group called Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, or SHARK, recently accused the Summit County Park system and White Buffalo of incompetence and cruelty toward animals.The group said it had film showing deer suffering after sharpshooters hit them in Summit County parks. The group alleged that park rangers choked deer to death by placing plastic bags over their heads. White Buffalo was training the rangers, the report said.DeNicola said White Buffalo sharpshooters carry side arms to put deer out of their misery if the first shot doesn't kill them, so it isn't necessary to suffocate the animals.DeNicola said the plastic bags are placed on the deer's heads only after they are dead so blood isn't tracked through the wooded areas."It's not in anyone's best interest

to make an animal suffer," DeNicola said.He said when SHARK saw deer moving after they were shot, it was just involuntary muscle movement after death."People tend to respond emotionally to how an animal reacts to getting shot in the head," DeNicola said.DeNicola deals with the emotion of killing by thinking of the deer population problem and how he can improve his techniques with each project."I focus on the method instead of the end result," DeNicola said. "Otherwise, it will drive you nuts."Contact Sandrick at rsandrickendHad the newspaper contacted us, we could have sent them the video footage of the deer kill or directed them to www.AkronDeerTorture.com to see the footage for themselves. They could have also read and listened to four different veterinarians' professional opinions regarding the fact that one particular deer was not dead when the killers suffocated her by putting a plastic bag over her

head.Please contact Linda Kinsey, and urge her to meet with SHARK President Steve Hindi next week. Explain to her that SHARK did not protest nor interfere with the deer slaughter, but rather, simply documented it like a good journalist should, so the public knows how their tax dollars are being spent.Linda Kinsey, Executive Editor5510 Cloverleaf Pkwy.Valley View, OH 44125-4887(800) 362-8008lkinsey @ sunnews.com (remove 2 spaces)For the Animals,Jodie WiederkehrSHARKSharkintl @ aol.com (remove 2 spaces)www.sharkonline.org

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