From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2007:
Trying to stop net-&-bolt deer killing

About a year ago, I became informed about net-and-bolt deer
killing, which is now going on in several cities here in New Jersey,
and is extensively practiced around the U.S.
In net-and-bolt deer culls, deer are baited and trapped in
nets (usually more than one at a time), and held to await execution
by an “authorized agent,” who usually has no veterinary experience
or other experience in killing animals with minimal pain and
distress. The deer are killed by firing a steel bolt into their
heads.
Killing hooved animals with a captive bolt gun is approved by
the American Veterinary Medical Association for use in
slaughterhouses and other situations in which the bolting can be done
quickly and accurately, with minimal awareness by the victim animal
that something bad is about to happen. However, netting and bolting
deer causes great pain and distress. The deer often do not die
instantly. Instead, they may receive several boltings before death,
because in order to cause instant death, the bolt must hit a certain
part of the brain. This is almost impossible because the netted deer
are flailing and throwing themselves around, making it impossible to
target one particular spot, which is much smaller for a deer than
for cattle, pigs, horses, and sheep, the species for whom the
AVMA recommendation was developed. Netted and bolted deer suffer a
slow, excruciating death, not to mention broken limbs resulting
from their struggles to escape from the nets.
Several of us are banding together to fight this, but we
need more support, more help. Please, if there is anything that
you can do, contact me.
–Jessica Ross
Princeton, N.J.
<ross.jessie@gmail.com>
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