Deer painting

Inscription:
To be born was not our decision.
In the wilderness we search for food.
We don't understand why people hate us.
With a shot, life is finished.

Commentary:
On Bluff Point in recent years deer have proliferated. There were over two hundred fifty deer within the narrow confines of the reserve. Neighbors consider this intolerable and insist upon shooting them. There are environmentalists who think the best policy would be to capture them and take them to remote mountain areas. In this dilemma the state government decided to kill two hundred thirty two deer in January. Only twenty five lucky ones survived. In two weeks of encircling to shoot the job is done.

On January sixteenth the Bluff Point Nature Preserve opened again to the public. I was curious. I drove to the reserve to see what had happened. The place was covered by deep snow and I walked carefully on the treacherous, icy road. It took me four hours to cover only seven miles. All this time I did not see a single deer. The survivors must be too frightened to appear. With snow covering everything what do they find to eat? Within a few days they may die of starvation. To be shot or to starve to death -- what a tragedy. Thus I lament.

Charles Chu, January 29, 1996

Date: 1996
Type: Animals & birds
Id#: 1140
Size: 33.2 x 66.2 cm
      13.0 x 26.0 inches