Donna
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« on: 13-Nov-09, 07:11:04 AM » |
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How awful for the deer and woman
HOPATCONG — Police are investigating two neighbors' claims that a deer shot twice by an officer allegedly lived at least four hours later, cradled in the lap of a sympathetic resident.
Carol Sanfilippo, 47, said she stayed at the side of a dying whitetail doe near her home after it was shot Friday night near her River Styx Road home.
Hopatcong Officer David Kraus had responded to a report from an anonymous caller that a deer had been struck by a vehicle at the intersection of River Styx Road and Maxim Drive at about 7:45 p.m., said Lt. Bob Brennan, a department spokesman. Kraus found the deer on the side of the road, unable to stand or walk, according to the police report, and shot it twice with his firearm. The report did not specify where on its body the deer was shot.
The shots stirred Sanfilippo, who said she rushed outside and saw two officers leave in their patrol car as the deer — a doe with a slight limp that had frequented neighbors' lawns for the past two years — floundered on the roadside as it tried to get on its feet.
"There was a little blood trickling out her belly, but she was still very much alive," Sanfilippo said.
"She is a friendly deer that residents in the area have hand fed," said Sanfilippo, a former veterinary technician who was has been working temp jobs. "She comes right up to people with her two fawns. I stayed with her — I was nose to nose, eye to eye as I promised to her I would try to save her."
Sanfilippo said she tried to lift the deer up off the ground. When that didn't work, she said she called police to alert them that the deer was alive only to be told the officer had reported it dead. Sanfilippo brought out a blanket to shroud the deer and a pillow to keep it comfortable as she reached out both to the New Jersey ASPCA and the borough's animal control officer, but no one responded, she said.
Kraus stopped by later on — it is unclear when — and reported that the deer was still "twitching" and that a woman had "curled up with the deer in her lap, petting the deer," Brennan said.
According to Sanfilippo, an officer returned at about 11:30 p.m. and shot the deer dead in its head. Brennan said there is no report of a third police visit to the scene.
Neighbor Rita Booker, 53, corroborated Sanfilippo's account and added that she was surprised the deer was shot in the first place.
"I can understand if it's mangled from being hit by a car, but this one wasn't," Booker said. "The deer lived for hours before the officer returned and shot it four hours later."
Brennan said it is not uncommon for officers to shoot animals that have been struck by vehicles. Ten deer and one bear struck by vehicles have been killed by borough officers this year.
"(The department's standard operating procedures) say that if an animal is sick or potentially dangerous, officers should destroy them, using precaution to not harm the public," Brennan said.
There are no statewide procedures that outline how law enforcement should go about destroying an injured or dangerous animal, said State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones.
"Whenever possible, police are advised to call animal control, unless the situation requires immediate action because the animal is causing a traffic disruption," Jones said of procedures in place for state police. "Police receive no training as to where to hit an animal for maximum effectiveness."
Janine Motta, a spokeswoman for the Animal Protection League of New Jersey, said the nonprofit animal rights group faults the state Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Fish and Wildlife for not creating more specific guidelines for law enforcement.
"It is not uncommon for this to happen. It's reprehensible, repulsive that an animal is left for dead when it's not," Motta said. "There should be some type of emergency plan in place. An animal control officer or veterinarian should respond, and police should be better trained about how to go about it."
Darlene Yuhas, a DEP spokeswoman, said the DEP does not track wildlife killed by law enforcement, and has no official guidelines, but the "preferred method (to kill a deer) is a shot to the head, if possible. A heart shot also is sufficient."
On Thursday afternoon, Brennan said he had not spoken with Kraus or any other officer who had been on shift the night of the incident, but said the department would investigate Sanfilippo's report.
Sanfilippo, who said she has had trouble sleeping since the incident, said the deer's carcass was carted away the next morning by authorities.
"I love animals and feel that animal could have been saved — and that makes me sick," she said. "People think that just because they are animals, they don't think like us. This deer was alert, was so human that night."
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