Sportsmen file suit on deer herd
The Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania filed a petition Aug. 16 in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, alleging capricious and arbitrary deer management by state agencies over the past five years, designed to radically reduce our state animal in pursuit of a political agenda not in the best interest of Pennsylvania sportsmen and its citizens. It is our contention that the Pennsylvania Game Commission under tremendous political pressure from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, with the blessing of Gov. Ed Rendell, are in violation of Title 34 to provide “adequate opportunities to hunt and trap the wildlife resources of this Commonwealth.”.
The radical reduction in the deer herd is unjustified, unscientific, and unprecedented in the history of the Commonwealth.
The USP and over 13,000 signatories have petitioned the court to request the aforementioned respondents to present documentation and scientific evidence which supports this massive deer reduction initiative, since it has never conducted a reliable or scientific deer census to substantiate such action.
The USP is requesting the court to intervene to prevent future and possible irreparable harm to our deer herd, granting Pennsylvania sportsmen rights to discovery and access to public documents and staff used to justify such a radical attack on the century old tradition of Pennsylvania deer hunting.
Gregory D. Levengood, USP chairman
Boyertown