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December 12th, 2009 | 
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Salem County residents outraged at recent swan killing Sunday, November 08, 2009 By Randall Clark rclark@sjnewsco.com MANNINGTON TWP. – Area residents have organized in protest against the recent killing of 55 mute swans here by order of the state Division of Fish and Wildlife. A public outcry began in October when information was uncovered that the state authorized the lethal collection of the majestic birds in order to thin their population and check for the presence of avian flu. In a startling discovery, the Division of Fish and Wildlife exterminated another 112 mute swans in Mannington Meadows last year under similar circumstances, according to data received after these most recent findings were made. No avian flu was detected in any of the species samples. Activists say it is part of a larger plan to eradicate the mute swan completely in order to make way for game birds that hunters will pay the state hefty fees to shoot. “If the public knew what was happening they would be horrified,” said Monmouth County resident Betty Butler, who has been following the issue up and down the eastern seaboard. “They found nothing and they knew ahead of time there would be no connection.” The stately white swans, highlighted by their distinctive orange and black beaks, often move in on domestic waterfowl’s breeding grounds and tear up vegetation that other creatures depend upon, some biologists say. A male can weigh up to 25 pounds and eat six to eight pounds of submerged aquatic vegetation a day, an inconvenience for other waterfowl and invertebrates that subsist on the same plants. But division Assistant Director Larry Herrighty said after the latest depredation that “there are ecological health issues but the main purpose of this is human safety.” No human cases of avian flu have ever been reported in the United States, World Health Organization statistics show. It has been found in some birds, however. Carneys Point resident Lucinda Lewis has developed a Web site, muteswanadvocacy.com, and an online petition calling for an investigation into the state’s depredation plan. About 55 people have signed it thus far. “A very determined and calculated effort has been made to destroy a bird that is appreciated whether or not it is considered native,” Lewis said. “The scientists have used data that most of us have difficulty accessing and given a very one-sided approach. And new information to the contrary is not being considered.” Experts are at odds as to whether or not the mute swan should be considered a native or non-native species to the country, a point which could play a key role in the protection it receives. While commonly held information says that mute swans were first introduced in America in the 1800s as a decorative bird for zoos, parks and private estates, a 2008 academic paper in “Picoides” on the subject shows a watercolor painting of a mute swan from 1585 during Sir Walter Raleigh’s scientific exploration of America. “Picoides” is the bulletin of the Society of Canadian Ornithologists. Fossil remains were also unearthed in four states from the Miocene era onward, according to the paper’s authors, Dr. Robert Alison and Kathryn Stillwell Burton. The Atlantic Flyway Council, which is a partner of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, recommended in its Atlantic Flyway Mute Swan Management Plan 2003-2013 that “the New Jersey mute swan population objective is 500 swans statewide.” With around 1,250 mute swans counted in New Jersey last year through the Atlantic Flyway Midsummer survey, another 750 would have to be slaughtered during the next four years in order to reach that goal. The Atlantic Flyway Council states that “populations should be particularly reduced in coastal impoundments managed for migrant and wintering waterfowl.” It goes on to say the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife’s control unit generally receives 10 or fewer complaints annually regarding mute swans. Across the Atlantic Flyway that stretches from Ontario to Florida, the mute swan’s numbers have seen an exponential decline since 2002, dropping from 14,344 to 10,541 in 2008. States like Maryland and Connecticut have documented extensive mute swan massacres. “Humane Society of the United States had a witness to the killings in the Chesapeake (Bay),” according to Burton, who has tried to hold the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service accountable in federal court. “The 4,500 swans have been reduced to under 100 and the methods of killing, some were a felony in Maryland. Sacking, beating and cutting the necks with a long handled branch cutter,” according to Burton. Mannington Township Mayor Ernest Tark Jr. said he and other township officials knew nothing of the state’s plans locally. He said last month “they just came in and did it.” “A lot of people come down to see the swans and they are in a lot of the county’s tourism materials,” Tark said previously. Their image also headlines the county government Web site, salemcountynj.gov. Lewis said that on Tuesday she counted approximately 30 swans on the east side of county Route 540 and about 10 others by the bridge on Old Kings Highway. “Why shouldn’t the swans be allowed to eat eight pounds of submerged vegetation a day?” Lewis asked. “In an open and expansive area that has obviously supported them and brought nature lovers to the meadows for generations.” |
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I told them since they mixed them up, and did not allow me to cage them by name; I could not identify each raccoon and know which area they came from. They asked if they had been vaccinated. I told them yes, the veterinarian had all of the records. However, it was not a law that they had to be vaccinated, although all of them were vaccinated for parvo, distemper, and rabies. They took the animals on that Friday the conservation officers positioned the animal carriers facing one another so that each raccoon could see one another, and shot them through the top of the carriers so they could see eachother die. They killed almost all of them. except for 2. The 2 not shot were taken to the Mercer County Center and were there for a few months until the head of the nature center, Diane Nickerson killed them. F&G told the media it was necessary to kill them because they were not vaccinated.
The courts had ordered a test of the raccoons to see if they had been vaccinated as the veterinary records showed, but F&G ordered them we killed before they could be tested. I had been charged with illegal possession and the court went on for 8 years. We eventually won the case. The judge did not see a reason to kill the animals since there were records signed off by the doctor on the vaccinations. The judge saw that it took so long that justice delayed was justice denied. He saw no reason for the complaint in the first place so he dismissed it.
All of those raccoons died for nothing. They were physically and mentally tortured the last hours of their life by our NJ Fish & Game Officers. The memory of what took place that day and the lengthy trial will remain a nightmare I will remember the rest of my life.
Bill Sleight
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I went to my car and picked up the copy of the paperwork I had sent them, and handed it to Lisa. She said,” well, it’s too late.” It was obvious they used this paperwork as an excuse to come to my house. She then got on the radio and said that the area was secure. Then, two trucks pulled up and parked at both ends of the road and all of the men come piling out of the truck from F&G, they went in the house and started netting the animals. The baby raccoons they grabbed with snare poles. They were just little babies; they did not have to do that. Then they went out in the back. They had the Long Branch Animal Control with them, the Long Branch Police, and the health department. They went into the huge walk in cages I have for the raccoons, and started snare poling the animals around the neck. I yelled at them not to do that, their necks are too sensitive for that, you must do it around the waist. The Long Branch Animal Control told conservation officers not to snare them around the neck, it was incorrect. NJ F&G barked back that they were the experts and continued poling them around the neck. The animals were screaming, and the raccoons were reaching their arms out of the cages toward me to help them. (Raccoons are trusting of their caretakers).I moved towards one of the conservation officers on the scene (it was Larry Herrighty’s brother). I wanted them to stop hurting the raccoons. Larry Herrighty’s brother told the other conservation officers to restrain me. The conservation officers jumped me and held guns pointed at my head, then turned to the police officers and barked a command to cuff me. The officers refused to cuff me and requested that the conservation officers remove the guns pointed at my head. The F&G officers relayed to the police that I was a threat. The police officers told the F&G that I was not a threat. They said,” The man has no shirt on or shoes”. I was held under guard for 2 hours in the back of the property. I couldn’t do a thing. When they finally gathered up all of the animals they asked where they all came from. I had named my animals by code to identify the towns where each animal came from, so when released they would go back to the area they came from.
To be continued
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I then spoke to a Verna Gengler, she told me she never heard from me, and didn’t know who I was, but yet I have paperwork from her with her signature on it. I shared this information with her and she stated that she really was not involved with this thing anyway. Later on that day Lisa Trifelli called me up about 3:45 pm , said she heard that I spoke to Larry Herrighty around 10am that morning, and told me that I must now have my physical permit. She said she would like to come up and give it to me. I agreed to it, and then asked her if this was a bust. She said,” no, no, no I wouldn’t do that to you. I just want to come up and inspect your facility, and give you your permit.”
Well, they had already inspected the facility because I had showed it to them, but I agreed anyway. I told them to give me a call to make sure I was there, because I wasn’t living in the house. I was fixing the house up at the time. I had been warned by another rehabilitator not to trust them. Come Friday outright lies were not acceptable. I had a copy of all of the paperwork I had sent to their office. The Fish & Game came to my house with the police and the health department. They asked if I was William Sleight, and I said yes and asked what was going on. I asked if this was a bust, and stated to Lisa Trifelli that she said she was not going to do this. She said,” I lied”. She said that law enforcement was allowed to do that. Being a former police officer I knew that there was something called deception, but outright lies were not acceptable. I had a copy of all the paperwork I had sent to their office.
To be continued
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I then gave the conservation officers my business card from the SPCA, and then they left. This happened on a Friday. On Monday I phoned the F&G office I spoke to a Larry Herrighty. I asked if there was a problem, and Larry said yes there was. He said that I did not return the questionnaire. The questionnaire was in the packet I received and it was only given to rehabilitators. The purpose was to gather information from wildlife rehabilitators so that the state could put together a standardized manual of care, this was asking for input for all of the rehabilitators. I had sent back that information. NJ F&G claimed that they did not get it. Then Herrighty said I was in trouble because I did not have my permit. I told them that I knew they only processed them in March or May, but so long as a rehabilitator having the physical paperwork in hand you were covered, so physically having the permit in your possession was not necessary. Then he said, “Well, there is a conflict of interest.” He said,” you’re with the SPCA.” I asked what was the conflict of interest? Herrighty said, “your statutes and ours.” So I said you mean that you kill them and I save them. Herrighty then said,” Had we known that you were with the SPCA we would have never accepted you in the program and given you a permit.” This clarified to me that I was accepted and issued a permit. There was no question or grey area about it. I assumed that the way they found out I was with the SPCA is because I handed my card to the conservation officers a couple of days before that. I did not realize at the time that they had remembered I was the officer who prosecuted the two police officers who beat the deer to death two years earlier.
To be continued
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I was working with NJ State SPCA as a Law Enforcement Officer in 1992 two Freehold Twp police officers were dispatched to a deer that was hit on the road on t. 537 in Freehold Twp on a Bell Lab property. It was about a quarter of a mile from the road hit by a delivery truck about 4 am. The deer had a broken back from the accident. The police officers took out a bolt cutter and they beat the deer to death. I was called in on the case and prosecuted the police officers on needlessly beating and torturing an animal. I was called by my office to call NJ Fish & Game about the incident. I spoke to a Marty McQue he said that they would appreciate it if I dropped the charges. I refused to drop the charges, I did not work for NJ Fish, Game and Wildlife, I worked for the State SPCA and that these two officers were guilty and I was going to prosecute them. That was the last I heard about it.
About two years later in 1993 I applied to NJ Fish, Game & Wildlife for my rehabilitator’s permit I sent them the application, and then did not receive any notice from them. In March of 1993 I phoned them to ask them what my status was, NJ F&G said that they never received my application, they did not know who I was, nor ever heard of me before. I asked them to send me the application again, they did. I filled it out and sent it back July 1994. I received a packet with all the rules and regulations, and a list of wildlife rehabilitators in the State, and they sent me my $7.00 check back with an explanation that they did not charge for the license, it is free. The check I sent them was by mistake, it was only needed if holding a captive pet, not wildlife rehabilitation. In August of 1994 two NJ Conservation Officers came to my house one was named Lisa Trifelli, they asked if I was William Sleight, and I said I was. The officers said that they were here about raccoons. At the time I had 20 raccoons. I thought that they were bringing me more raccoons, when I found out that they were investigating me, I told them that I had all of the necessary paperwork that I needed. They asked for the permit, and I told them that they had not sent it to me yet, then I showed them the back of the property, the cages and animals, and they responded it was ok. They said they were going to check their records for my information, and realized that they had spelled my name wrong. They spelled it Slate I’m sleight, I explained if they looked they would see that that the paperwork was sent to them, and I had received paperwork from the State. I told them in the paperwork I received, I was sent a directory, and they stated that I must be ok because that directory only gets sent to licensed rehabilitators in case I need to network with them. I was also told police departments may get the directory as a list in case they need to refer to a wildlife rehabilitator, but it is not for the open public.
To be continued
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