| HUNT AT ACADEMY ASSAILED AS FLAW IN MANAGEMENT
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Group seeking injunction, alternatives to protect deer.
DENVER - A deer hunt scheduled for this weekend at the Air Force
Academy is an example of flawed wildlife management practices that led
to an overpopulation of deer in the first place, animal rights
activists charged in the opening day of a legal battle to stop to hunt.
In areas surrounding the academy, the state Division of Wildlife
has permitted the deer gender ratio to become heavily lopsided in favor
of does in order to obtain "the maximum sustained yield," said Rowe
Stayton, the attorney representing the Rocky Mountain Humane Society in
the Denver district Court case.
Over the years, deer have sought refuge on the academy, which has
been open to hunting only twice in its 30 years -- in 1970 and last
year. That migration to a safe region has helped spawn a herd of about
1,500 deer, Stayton said.
By allowing hunting so near a sanctuary, wildlife officials are
following an inconsistent policy that is unfair to the tame academy
deer, Stayton said.
"It's not wildlife -- that's been demonstrated," Stayton said,
noting that a high number -- 75 percent -- of the participants in the
1988 academy hunt bagged a deer.
"It's not hard to shoot a deer that comes up to you, and that's
what's happening at the Air Force Academy."
The society seeks an injunction to halt three hunting periods
scheduled for Oct. 20-22, Nov. 10-12, and Nov. 17-19. As one of its
main arguments, the society advocates alternatives to sport hunting as
a primary wildlife management tool.
When the hearing continues today, the society intends to offer
testimony from Luke Dommer, a wildlife management expert from
Connecticut and lead of the Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting. Dommer
has cancer, and Judge John Coughlin agreed, over objections from
wildlife division attorneys, to let him testify by phone.
During recent years, deer have become an increasing road hazard
for vehicles at the academy. The wildlife division also contends that
the herd is over-grazing and causing ecological damage. This year 120
licenses have been issued and 90 to 95 female deer are expected to be
shot.
The humane society has proposed contraceptives in salt licks to
reduce the herd size. It also has suggested a no-hunting "buffer zone"
around the academy to allow the male-female ration to even out, which
the group says would inhibit population growth.
Wildlife division attorney Steve Simms said the current deer
management system is well-accepted; he suggested alternatives are
unworkable. "It's necessary to have a harvest of animals," he said.
The division also says the humane society has no basis for its
suit because it did not participate in administrative hearings on the
hunt earlier this summer. The organization's president and executive
directory, Robin Duxbury, says wildlife officials failed to notify her.
The division also faulted Duxbury's group for the timing of its
action and for not including the state Wildlife Commission in the suit.
[Gazette Telegraph - Tuesday, Oct. 17, 1989 - COPIED WITHOUT PERMISSION]
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