Letters to the Editor and Others
Foul Donations
This was sent to both the Tennessean and the Nashville Scene.
1/5/03
Recently two men were arrested on Nashville's Natchez Trace Parkway for illegally killing a deer and sitting her in the back seat of their station wagon. The men were arrested and fined, and curiously, the dead deer was said to have been sent "to charity."
One wonders exactly what was donated? Was it the risk of Chronic Wasting Disease? Or perhaps it was the possibility of contaminated deer flesh? Whatever it was, I'm certain that there are better donations for local charities than the products of wanton violence and disrespect for wildlife.
Hunters for the Hungry, a Virginia-based group that does much the same thing, freely admits that deer meat may include growths, abscesses, enlarged or discolored organs. The group warns against donating meat that has been contaminated through "field dressing" - a hunter's euphemism for tearing out a deer's internal organs and leaving the steaming gut pile in the woods after the animal is killed. Through "field dressing, it is possible that fecal matter may contaminate the deer meat and contribute to spread of E. coli 0157:H7, an organism that can prove fatal to those unfortunate enough to contract it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that outbreaks of E. coli 0157:H7 are associated with fecal contaminated venison. The Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health released a paper entitled "Emerging Infectious Diseases" (Vol. 8, No. 5, May 2002). In the paper, Terry Rabatsky-Ehr, et. al. concluded that a seven-year old boy contracted E. coli O157:H7 from eating white tail deer meat.
Clearly, donations of deer flesh may cause more harm than good for needy families in the area. This is just one more example of the negative impact hunters have on people and the environment.
For information on what you can do to stop the spread of sport hunting in America, contact the Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting through their website at http://www.all-creatures.org/cash/ or by calling 845-256-1400.
Joe Miele, Vice President
The Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting
Box 562
New Paltz, NY 12563
201-368-8271
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