Many Richmond residents were horrified to learn that a famous deer who had been roaming in Hollywood Cemetery and the James River park system had been shot and poached this past month. The report even made it to the Washington Post newspaper.
This buck, with a nice big rack of antlers, was a welcome sign of riverfront wildlife and undoubtedly lead a whole herd.
It really was not so much about hunting in general so much as it was about what is supposed to be protected inside the City, where hunting is illegal. Some residents said that people should be more careful about posting photos and other information about wildlife, in case that inadvertently entices more criminals in the future. Over the years, that buck had made it into a lot of local photographs.
Given the amount of gunfire heard last night, enforcement may not seem that obvious, though the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources may also have more resources when it come to poaching than the Richmond Police Department has for illegal shooting.
This incident does beg the question- should the City try to hide remaining pockets of wildlife or celebrate and do more for them publicly?
Elsewhere in Virginia, the nation, and the world, more is being done to protect wildlife from traffic, with wildlife crossings, and noise, with more restrictions on human activity. The City of Richmond, on the other hand, under the rule of VCU and corporations, seems to be moving in the opposite direction. As expressed here earlier last year, the local PTB (Powers That Be) seem determined to blast this neighborhood, and its more natural surroundings, off the hill altogether with a new, unnecessary, outdoor amphitheater.
But dig a little, and the callousness towards nature and wildlife goes much deeper. Indeed, while the very sad story about ‘cemetery buck’ made local media rounds, some residents are wondering if another story should really be getting more attention- it’s to the Richmond Free Press and reporter Jeremy Lazarus’ credit that an article entitle ‘VCU’s rat de-bait’ appeared in that newspaper this past week (Full disclosure: I do some part-time technical work for the Richmond Free Press).
It comes as another outrage to the ravaged historic park- what was a wooded, Victorian park treasured by City residents has been expensively turned into, essentially, another VCU campus lawn in a long-involved ‘renovation’. It’s a depressing end for this place that some City residents had hoped could have become part of the ‘East Coast Greenway’.
But more pointedly, what the Richmond Free Press article did not get into, is that VCU’s costly, poisonous traps poise a great threat to local wildlife. The glyphosate floated by VCU in Monroe Park is substantial and also affects humans and important pollinators. Any poisoned squirrel or rat from the park can be picked up by hawks and owls, who will also die and spread the poison to the river or wherever they die.
We need local leaders and organizations who are not afraid of the VCU administration to call this poisoning for what it is- totally unacceptable, and demand an immediate halt.
Furthermore, the City needs to look at the big picture and come to terms about its commitment to animal welfare overall. Many residents want to live in a more biophilic city. Unfortunately, government already has a bad reputation for ignoring its human citizens and deferring to the corporate PTB instead.
