HAMPTON BAYS, NY — Months after a deer was shot just yards from the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center in Hampton Bays, lawmakers signed legislation in June that would ban hunting on that parcel in the future.
The measure received bipartisan support and only needs to be signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul — but the law was not handed over to the governor’s office for signature until Tuesday, said Virginia Frati, executive director of Wildlife Center Evelyn Alexander. Hochul has until December 17 to either sign the law or veto it, she said.
Frati urges Hochul to sign the law. “This is a public safety issue,” Frati said. “I’m concerned about the safety of our employees who work outside. Since then, the employees no longer want to work outside.”
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Frati said she saw hunters on the property and next to the sanctuary for years.
And she remarked, “We were here first. That’s important because I would never have chosen a location that was close to the hunt.”
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Frati said she and her staff are still mourning the deer, which has died despite her desperate efforts to save it. They put a lighted memorial with a statue of a deer on the exact spot where the deer was shot.
“I think about it all the time, absolutely,” said Frati. “At least when this is over, the deer didn’t die in vain.”
On January 4, shots were fired by a hunter at the New York State Department of Conservation’s Henrys Hollow Pine Barrens state forest property; The hunter was later charged, the DEC said.
As the shots were fired, a slug passed through a cage and came close to wildlife rescue workers, who missed by just feet, Frati said – leaving staff at the facility in fear for their own safety and for those working walked and biked on hiking trail nearby.
The problem is not new, said Frati. For about 20 years, she said, she has been pleading with Suffolk County officials to terminate an agreement that allows hunters to traverse a strip of county-owned land to enter the New York State-sanctioned Henry’s Hollow hunting ground adjacent to that parcel reach.
But now there’s hope on the horizon: According to New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele, the bill, sponsored by Thiele in the New York State Assembly and New York State Senator Anthony Palumbo in the Senate, only lasts for a 200-year term -Acre lot throughout the state – State-owned land in Henry’s Hollow adjacent to the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, which is part of Munn’s Pond County Park.
The center leased the property for more than 20 years before hunting was allowed, Thiele said.
“The center has raised safety concerns about buffer breaches for many years,” Thiele said; He added that despite a larger buffer over the DEC, all that was agreed was additional signage, leading to the legislation.
According to Thiele, the situation is “unique. There are only three parking spaces. Hunters have to cross the center’s premises to get to state property – hence all the conflicts.”
And Thiele added that the legislation “is not an anti-hunting law. I have passed legislation that increases hunting opportunities in the East End. This is a safety issue.”
Palumbo was similar: “This was a very specific situation and the legislation only applies to this specific package regarding safety concerns at the wildlife center,” he said. “As a Senator, I continue to support our hunters and all efforts to reduce the deer population in the East End. This law had a limited scope and was passed with broad bipartisan support.”
Hochul must sign the bill to enact legislation.
Suffolk County Assemblyman Bridget Fleming thanked Thiele, Palumbo and everyone involved in creating change. “Laws have been passed protecting the wildlife center and ensuring that hunting does not endanger the safety of the center’s staff or the animals,” she said.
Frati was overjoyed at the news that hunting near wildlife rescue could soon be banned: “I’m so encouraged that our state legislatures passed this legislation,” she said. “This is not an animal rights issue. This is a public safety issue as we have found hunters and paraphernalia near our cage buildings on many documented occasions. I hope the governor signs this law and ends the agony we’ve been through for 18 years.”
According to NYSDEC, Environmental Protection Officers Jacob Clark and Rob McCabe received a complaint from workers at the Hampton Bays Wildlife Rescue Center about a hunter who shot a deer on their property. Officers responded and found a deer near the animal holding area behind the center, the DEC said.
The ECOs questioned the hunter, who said he entered from a legal hunting cooperative parking lot and mistakenly walked into an area where hunting is prohibited, the DEC said.
The DEC environmentalists also found bullet holes in the fence and damage to a door of an animal and storage shed, the DEC said.
Additionally, ECO Christopher DeRose and K-9 Cramer also responded and found three spent shotgun shells within 500 feet of the occupied buildings, the DEC said.
According to the DEC website, it is illegal to fire a firearm within 500 feet of a structure in use unless you own it, rent it out, or have the owner’s permission.
Describing the shots that rang out outside the sanctuary, Frati said she was horrified by what she found as she ran outside to investigate.
“I saw a hunter shoot a deer that was still alive near our raccoon enclosures,” she said.
She picked up the deer, her arms, face, trousers and glasses covered in its blood, and tried in vain to save it, she said. But despite their best attempts, the deer died.
“It was the most terrifying and traumatic thing I’ve ever experienced,” said Frati. “I was just sobbing.”
Even though the hunter was about 40 feet away, “the deer fell to the ground literally a meter from one of our cages,” Frati said. “It shouldn’t be a hunting ground near a wildlife center. It’s like putting a porn shop or an adult bookstore next to a children’s playground.”
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Posted on Tuesday December 6, 2022 at 8:39pm ET
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