Pheasant hunting, LIRR fares

Taking sides on pheasant hunting

I’m appalled that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation would spend $750,000 a year to raise pheasants for hunters [“Some oppose breeding pheasants for hunters,” News, Jan. 14].

These pheasants, which are not native to North America, are farm- and hand-raised and are ill-equipped to live in the wild and cannot fend for themselves. They are raised for the sole purpose to be killed by hunters.

Not only is this not good for the environment but has nothing to do with conservation, which is the purpose of the DEC. We would think that the DEC would have better use for that money than to provide hunters with easy game for their so-called sport.

— Judi Gardner, Melville

This DEC program of breeding pheasants for the purpose of releasing them to be shot by hunters or, if they survive, to starve or be prey for predators, is sickening. Instead of encouraging young people to love and respect nature, our tax dollars allow the DEC to encourage them to kill.

The same Jan. 14 edition has a story about slaughtering deer, which on Fire Island are so tame they come up to your car window [“Fire Island, Floyd estate deer cull set,” News]. We treat living creatures like disposable trash. It’s no wonder what is left of nature is disappearing, and people are becoming more and more disconnected from the natural world.

The DEC program is disgusting, and I am grateful there are groups like Humane Long Island that are trying to protect wild creatures, which is one reason why the DEC was created.

— Marie Brown, Baldwin

When I grew up in Suffolk County in the 1950s and ’60s, the call of the bobwhite quail was commonplace. Today, you would be hard-pressed to find one anywhere on Long Island, or a ruffed grouse, another magnificent game bird no longer in our area.

So yes, hunters in our state and around the country simulate these once-wild hunts with pheasants propagated at game farms. To criticize this practice as a waste of money and as an act of animal cruelty is but another one-sided story denigrating hunting.

Licensed hunters in our state have raised over $70 million annually for the Conservation Fund the past several years. The remaining publicly owned open spaces we enjoy can be directly attributed to the work of these people who continue to be the most ardent stewards of these habitats for fish and wildlife.

Stocking programs, including the pheasant program, stimulate participation in conservation and provide a measure of appreciation for our natural resources.

If we paid as much attention to habitat protection and management as we seem to pay to criticizing long established conservation programs, maybe our native quail could still be heard whistling “bob-white” in the early dawns of our once-rural Long Island landscape.

— Timothy Huss, Islip

The writer is a retired state DEC police officer.

Most people likely were unaware of this program. It is simply an abuse of these beautiful birds. If they are not shot, they are likely to die a slow, painful death in the wild.

People go to jail for animal cruelty, but New York State has been funding this abusive program for more than 100 years. And to promote a special pheasant hunting season for children is beyond comprehension.

If teaching children about the importance of our natural resources is one goal of the program, there are far better ways to accomplish it than a program that includes animal slaughter. This entire taxpayer-funded program is abhorrent.

— Annette Kaminsky, Cold Spring Harbor

LIRR fares affect holiday visit to the city

There have been many complaints about the congestion pricing scheduled to take effect in Manhattan [“Congestion pricing faces more heat,” News, Jan. 5]. Here’s one reason people drive there — Long Island Rail Road ticket prices.

If you have to commute daily, the railroad is the way to go. If you want to visit for the day, though, it’s almost cost-prohibitive to do so. My husband suggested a family outing to go into the city to see the Christmas decorations and the Rockefeller Center tree. Round-trip train tickets for the six of us would total over $180 from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station, off-peak.

Yes, we could have bought a 10-trip ticket for just under $130 and saved $50, but who knows if we would use the remaining four tickets before they’d expire and go to waste? Or we can get in the car, spend $50 in gas/tolls/parking and get there at the same time as the train.

We chose neither option and stayed home, but driving — even if congestion pricing was in place — would still be cheaper than riding the train.

— Laura Smith, Centereach