Environmental groups and Hamptons residents are up in arms over a deer cull to take place in the dead of night by federal sharpshooters using silencers and night-vision goggles.
The plan by the Long Island Farm Bureau and the USDA to curb Lyme disease, crop damage and car accidents is slated for February.
A rep for Sagaponack Village said it had passed a resolution giving $1,500 for the cull contingent on Southampton and East Hampton participating. Southampton Town is yet to decide if it will join the cull.
The East Hampton Group for Wildlife, fronted by Bill Crain and Ron Delsener, the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center and 15 others have filed suit against the town.
Wendy Chamberlain, a wildlife rehabilitator, is preparing to sue the USDA. She said, “This overall sweeping policy of extermination is not a way to manage wildlife. It’s primitive and cruel.”
An online petition against the slaughter has 11,500 signatures. The Humane Society calls the “commando-style approach totally misguided.”