Please email Monmouth Beach Mayor Susan Howard

FURTHER DISTRESSING RESIDENTS AND WILDLIFE, HUNTERS ARE SHOOTING BIRDS IN HURRICANE-RAVAGED MONMOUTH BEACH

Please email Monmouth Beach Mayor Susan Howard to register your outrage: Mayor@MonmouthBeach.us (Given recovery efforts, we do not want to flood the township’s telephone lines).

In hard-hit Monmouth Beach, the destruction and displacement caused by Hurricane Sandy is palpable. In red letters, the Monmouth Beach website lists the FEMA 800-number, FEMA Recovery Centers, and other emergency contacts.

Even as volunteers are assisting distressed homeowners any way they can, and while volunteer animal rescue groups are on-site, attempting to save cats and other animals who survived the storm, a few hardcore hunters are shooting it up, pursuing waterfowl also hard-hit by the storm, AND only yards from distressed homeowners, homes, and volunteers.

As reported by the Asbury Park Press in October, 2009, shooting in Monmouth Beach raises stress levels and evokes a startle response:

Last year, many of them came together to form a grass-roots group, Residents for a Peaceful River, which aims to stop the hunt in and along the Shrewsbury. Hundreds signed a petition to ban hunting in the area. This year, they're armed with a new weapon: A noise study they commissioned last winter.

The study was conducted by the Flemington-based Noise Consultancy, LLC, whose president, Eric Zwerling, directs Rutgers University's Noise Technical Assistance Center and is a noise-enforcement expert for the DEP.

On Jan. 19, The Noise Consultancy took sound readings from Eigenrauch's deck while a single hunter fired a shotgun 1,287 feet away. The company's analysis of the tests reported that the noise level of the shots ranged from 85.5 to 96 dBA, or A-weighted decibels, a unit of sound measurement used in testing environmental noise levels.

Citing standards set by the World Health Organization and the Environmental Protection Agency, the report said the gun noise was more than loud enough to waken sleepers, invoke a startle response and cause stress. At the legal distance of 450 feet, the report said, the disturbance from the shots would be far greater. (APP).

Shooting during recovery from Hurricane Sandy is beyond the pale, for both affected humans and birds. Animal protection organizations, including the Animal Protection League of New Jersey, continue our efforts to assist the animals and people affected by Hurricane Sandy. For an update on our efforts, please go to http://www.facebook.com/#!/AnimalProtectionLeagueNJ?fref=ts

Please email today. And thank you.

Susan Russell, Wildlife Policy Specialist
League of Humane Voters of New Jersey