Killing white deer gets NY politician riled up

Kronenwetter is advocating for a state law prohibiting the killing of white deer. That idea has been proposed by Diane Potter, another strong proponent of preserving the white deer of Seneca County.

Kronenwetter is trying to solicit support for a law that makes killing a free roaming white or albino deer in the state a Class A misdemeanor.

A conviction would call for a $10,000 fine and/or 180 days in jail per white deer killed, as well as:

• The loss of hunting privileges for 3 to 5 years.

• Confiscation of a hunter’s equipment of guns or bows.

• The deer carcass being reported to and confiscated by a state agency.

• A $5,000 penalty per deer for a state taxidermist who processes a white deer.

• A ban on taking or transporting live white deer into or out of the state.

• A ban on transporting a whole white deer carcass or any part of a white deer into or our of the state.

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aznginf said:

Why? What's the problem?

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When the total population of deer within the fence grew larger than the limited habitat could support in the mid 1950s, the Army allowed hunting to reduce the size of the deer herd and prevent starvation, but protected the white deer from hunters. The Depot Commander, Colonel Franklin Kemble, Jr. gave orders not to kill the white deer and is responsible for the extensive herd that exists today.

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LanceR said:

The white deer in Seneca County, NY are absolutely NOT a natural resource. They exist only because a fixed population was fenced into the former Seneca Army Depot during WWII and due to being confined behind a very well maintained and quite high double apron fence topped with ribbon concertina wire they interbreed to the degree that the recessive gene for white hair (they are not albinos) became more prevalent. For many years the staff at the depot conducted deer management hunts in which the participants had to be currently serving military, depot employees or retired military or employees. As part of the deer management program some of the white deer (and mixed color piebalds) were also taken each year.

When the army closed the depot right after the Persian Gulf War in about 1992 and they moved the special weapons out the civilian "caretaker force" that managed the toxic cleanup took the deer management program from the active duty army folks who had run it and they had the same service or employment rules.

Fast forward 25 years and the caretaker force finishes the job and the county industrial development agency winds up owning the land which it got in stages over maybe 15 years. There are a lot of folks who want the white deer somehow protected by the Department of Environment Conservation who does not want to manage them as they are not natural. I agree with the DEC as do most of the surrounding county sportsman's federations. There was a big local push from some folks to have the state take the property over as a wildlife management area and protect the white deer. The DEC, with the support of the significant majority of the sporting organizations in the state, said it would like the place as a WMA but that it wouldn't maintain the fence or protect the white deer. Next the white deer fans floated the idea of the land being part of the adjoining state park and that they would protect the white deer. That idea went down in flames, too.

No one has ever conducted anything like peer reviewed research into how they breed. Any statement about whether they breed true to color is pure speculation.

If this bill were introduced in either the Senate or Assembly it would be very short lived and I'd bet any amount of money that it would never get on the agenda of either Environmental Conservation Committee let alone get voted out of committee.

And as someone who had a lot of experience with the depot and the deer there both as an active duty soldier and having hunted deer there over a lot of years (most recently about 5 years ago) I can tell you that the significant majority of the the white deer or mixed color piebalds there are pretty scraggly specimens due to the inbreeding........


Lance

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JONOV said:

Someone with a better grasp of genetics will have to enlighten us, but won't the white deer become less and less common since the fence has come down?

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JONOV said:

Someone with a better grasp of genetics will have to enlighten us, but won't the white deer become less and less common since the fence has come down?

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