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http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_684399.html
Four deer euthanized after being picked up by Pittsburgh crews
By Tim Puko
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, June 4, 2010
When Tom Hosey saw a motionless fawn kneeling in bushes near his Logue Street home in Crafton Heights, he called 911 for help. His call might have cost a healthy animal its life.
State law prohibits anyone from removing deer from the wild, but Pittsburgh Animal Control workers have been doing just that this spring. In the past month, they took four fawns, including one from Logue Street, to the Animal Rescue League to be euthanized, according to the city agency and the Larimer shelter. They euthanized only one in all of 2009.
"For somebody to pick it up from the wild, they're doing the exact wrong thing, not only legally, but ethically and morally," said Tom Fazi, information and education supervisor for the state Game Commission's southwest region office. "I was blindsided by this."
The city directs its agents to explain to callers that deer will leave on their own. The agents will move deer if people make repeated complaints or report an imminent danger, animal control supervisors said. Supervisor Gerald Akrie said he wasn't sure why agents have gone beyond that so many times in the past month. He plans to investigate the cases when he gets back from vacation, he said.
City Public Safety Director Mike Huss did not return a call for comment Thursday. Fazi said commission leaders would speak with city officials.
The last month of spring brings thousands of calls about fawns to animal agencies every year, animal experts said. Many people don't know that fawns often keep still just to protect themselves because they aren't big enough to run from predators. Persistent complaints should be referred to state game officials, Fazi said.
"I think they're just trying to respond to city residents' calls and frantic requests," said Dan Rossi, executive director of the Animal Rescue League. "It is heartbreaking; it is a shame. This is clearly why residents need to just let nature take its course and leave the fawn alone. As we said before, 99 percent of the time, the mother deer will come back for them."
The deer from Logue Street was healthy, according to records from the shelter, which has a contract to take animals picked up by city workers. Rossi did not know whether the other three deer were healthy.
Even healthy deer have to be put down there because of Game Commission policy, commission and shelter officials said. The state used to allow shelters to move fawns to deer farms but halted that earlier this decade to stop the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease, a nervous system illness that has decimated deer populations in Western states, Fazi said.
Four deer euthanized after being picked up by Pittsburgh crews
By Tim Puko
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, June 4, 2010
When Tom Hosey saw a motionless fawn kneeling in bushes near his Logue Street home in Crafton Heights, he called 911 for help. His call might have cost a healthy animal its life.
State law prohibits anyone from removing deer from the wild, but Pittsburgh Animal Control workers have been doing just that this spring. In the past month, they took four fawns, including one from Logue Street, to the Animal Rescue League to be euthanized, according to the city agency and the Larimer shelter. They euthanized only one in all of 2009.
"For somebody to pick it up from the wild, they're doing the exact wrong thing, not only legally, but ethically and morally," said Tom Fazi, information and education supervisor for the state Game Commission's southwest region office. "I was blindsided by this."
The city directs its agents to explain to callers that deer will leave on their own. The agents will move deer if people make repeated complaints or report an imminent danger, animal control supervisors said. Supervisor Gerald Akrie said he wasn't sure why agents have gone beyond that so many times in the past month. He plans to investigate the cases when he gets back from vacation, he said.
City Public Safety Director Mike Huss did not return a call for comment Thursday. Fazi said commission leaders would speak with city officials.
The last month of spring brings thousands of calls about fawns to animal agencies every year, animal experts said. Many people don't know that fawns often keep still just to protect themselves because they aren't big enough to run from predators. Persistent complaints should be referred to state game officials, Fazi said.
"I think they're just trying to respond to city residents' calls and frantic requests," said Dan Rossi, executive director of the Animal Rescue League. "It is heartbreaking; it is a shame. This is clearly why residents need to just let nature take its course and leave the fawn alone. As we said before, 99 percent of the time, the mother deer will come back for them."
The deer from Logue Street was healthy, according to records from the shelter, which has a contract to take animals picked up by city workers. Rossi did not know whether the other three deer were healthy.
Even healthy deer have to be put down there because of Game Commission policy, commission and shelter officials said. The state used to allow shelters to move fawns to deer farms but halted that earlier this decade to stop the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease, a nervous system illness that has decimated deer populations in Western states, Fazi said.
