April 24, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

‘You can’t do evil so that good will result.’
FOW deer euphemisms conceal FPC’s bloody massacre
by JIM HARRIS

Five years ago there were about 180 deer in the park, according to the Fairmount Park Commission. Today there are about 30, thanks to the annual FPC killing program they call a “cull.” This year, according to an FPC press release, FPC-backed riflemen killed (the euphemism in the press release is “removed”) 153 deer throughout the entire park after nine nights of shooting within a five-week period.

In 1925, the Wissahickon Valley was in ill repair. Refined citizens were avoiding the park. Hooligans were carving their initials in trees and making whoopee in the bushes. Since the park was in their own backyard, a few wealthy eastside landowners decided to take action. They formed the Friends of the Wissahickon (FOW), and using their own money, planted over 100 varieties of poisonous sticker bushes on the west side to keep the hooligans out. This was considered charitable work, since the hooligans themselves were being paid to do the labor.

Okay, maybe that isn’t exactly how it happened, but something along those lines. In any event, for the next 75 years or so, the Friends’ activities generally consisted of plantings, cleanups, anti-graffiti and occasional social get-togethers. While not technically a branch of government, they had enough money and manpower to be the favorite special interest group of the Fairmount Park Commission (FPC).

It was during that era that I virtually grew up in the Wissahickon; it was my backyard too. My friends and I played, swam, ice skated, built forts and generally lived our “Lord of the Flies” existence there, free from adult intervention, save the occasional mounted “parkie,” who kept us honest. I never dreamed it could be anything other than an idyllic setting for boy and beast.

In the 1990s, however, a new breed took over the FOW: lean, mean professional types who knew how to get things done. They decided that it was necessary to occupy the Wissahickon and establish a new park order. They envisioned a utopian green zone of chosen flora and fauna. To this end they waged war on “invasive” plants and animals, and built a corps of enthusiastic young volunteers. 

In April of 1998, FOW requested that the FPC apply for a permit from the Pennsylvania Game Commission (“owners” of the state’s wildlife) to carry out a cull (i.e. “selective slaughter”) of the Wissahickon’s deer population using sharpshooters from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Yes, the same USDA that brought you genetically engineered food, “humane” slaughterhouse practices and concentration camp “puppy mills.”

FOW declared “damage to the environment and the future health of the forest” to be the primary reasons for needing to kill almost all of the deer in the park, with “car accidents, Lyme disease and destruction of gardens” as other considerations. The FPC, despite significant opposition from animal rights groups, decided to follow the suggestions of the FOW and carry out the “cull” (mass slaughter). Interference with the killing was declared a felony. Although the public was initially told that the action would be swift and decisive, the massacre has continued from 2001 to the present, with 45 deer being killed in the Wissahickon Park this year, and many more citywide.

According to the Fairmount Park Commission’s own press release, the serial killing

“began on February 20 and was conducted on nine nights over the following five weeks. In total, 153 deer were removed, 37 from West Fairmount Park, 45 from the Wissahickon Valley and 71 from Pennypack Park.” (Their word “removed” is Orwellian doublespeak. “Removed” would imply that the animals were moved to another location, not shot to death. Fairmount Park Commission executive director Mark Focht obviously wants you to think that this operation was some kind of humane relocation, and not the bloody massacre it really was. After the killing of 153 deer, there are only about 30 still alive.)

According to the FOW website, “Support was also solicited from other ‘friends’ groups, environmental organizations and garden clubs to get access to private properties on the edge of the Wissahickon for bow hunting of deer.” Bow hunting? Who’s in these garden clubs, the Stepford wives? Can you even imagine how terrifying and painful it is to be shot with an arrow? Anyway, the Pennsylvania Game Commission now sells licenses for bow hunting on private lands within the city of Philadelphia, thanks to our friends at the blood-stained FOW. 

The FOW website goes on to explain that the meat is distributed to “poor families in Philadelphia,” and I’m assuming that it goes something like this: “Attention poor people! Gather ‘round! I am the great and beneficent Ronald McDeermeat! Pay no attention to the bloody archer behind the curtain. Please accept this gift in the true spirit of philanthropy. Would you like fries and a Coke with that?” 

In their “Response to Arguments Against the Cull,” the FOW states that “The Friends of the Wissahickon well understands the controversial nature of deer culls and responds as rationally as possible to the emotional arguments and often-inflammatory public accusations.” Well, there’s certainly nothing “emotional” going on there, eh? And no respect for the deeply-held beliefs of their opponents, or the rights of the animals who dare to get in their way.

Continuing in the Friends’ own words: “The health of the forest has always been the basis for the cull. The work undertaken in Philadelphia parks has been groundbreaking and necessary for the stewardship of urban parks. FOW and FPC recognize that this is a serious regional, as well as national problem.” 

While there are indeed a number of valid concerns regarding the deer, I would not consider them “a serious national problem” in the grand scheme of things, nor could I begin to address them all here, except to say that, if we really want to solve them nonviolently, we can. No debate on means can begin, however, until all the officials and quasi-officials in charge can commit to a humane approach.

It’s easy to murder deer in a city park, huddled around a bait station, and it’s  harder to pursue and explore humane alternatives, but we’ve done much more difficult and expensive things for much less noble reasons. I still can’t believe that this policy of killing is being allowed to continue here. This is Philadelphia, for God’s sake, not Hooterville. If we can’t find a little progressive thinking here in the city of William Penn, Benjamin Franklin and Michael Nutter, then where can we find it? 

Here’s another piece of local history: In the late 19th century, an era when “animal control” consisted of clubbing lost or stray dogs to death, Caroline Earle White of Philadelphia founded America’s first animal shelter. When science laboratories subsequently began demanding to use her shelter animals in cruel experiments, she went on to found the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) in 1883.

Ms. White believed there was a higher truth in life, that “You can’t do evil so that good will result.” And that even if cruelty or violence suits our purpose in the short run, it diminishes our spirit.

The AAVS has just observed its 125th anniversary with a gala at the Bellevue and a panel discussion at the Constitution Center. They were also given a citation by City Councilman Frank DiCicco for their years of work in the service of compassion.

The pioneers of the animal welfare, antislavery, women’s suffrage, child labor and other reform movements were well-bred, educated women and men, yet they were subjected to constant accusations of being overemotional, anti-intellectual and even mentally unbalanced. Time has not judged their detractors kindly, and the parallels to this present situation are obvious.

As animal rights philosophy continues to gain respect in the universities, legislatures and courtrooms of America, groups like FOW and FPC continue to create records of cruelty and outdated attitudes toward animals, and history will not judge them kindly either.

Seeing animals as “cash crops” or “game” or “agriculture” is a myopic world-view. It objectifies them and makes violence an acceptable way to handle problems with wildlife. What sort of message does that send to our kids? We are damn lucky to even have wildlife in Philadelphia. Whenever I see a deer or a family of deer in the park, I feel blessed. I’m moved by their beauty and grace, and I can’t imagine wanting to do any harm to them.

In that same year that AAVS was founded, a statue of Billy Penn was erected on a rock overlooking the Wissahickon Valley. It contains a single word — “Toleration” — a reminder of the high ideals upon which this green country town was built. The park was meant to be a place of peaceful refuge, not a private plant museum or a bloody shooting gallery. We deserve better than that. 

Not that anyone cares what I think, but I think that this highly invasive new breed of “Friends” (enemies, really) should uproot themselves from the Wissahickon and take a few sensitivity classes. I’d sooner share the park with the deer and the hooligans.