Hochul vetoes hunting ban near Hampton Bays wildlife center

Gov. Kathy Hochul has vetoed a bill that would have prohibited hunting on state land next to a Hampton Bays wildlife rehabilitation center where stray gun shots struck a cage last year.

The legislation, sponsored by Assemb. Fred Thiele (D-Sag Harbor), stemmed from a January incident near the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center when a hunter fired three shots near the property in an area where hunting is prohibited. The hunter struck a fence, an empty animal cage and killed a deer. A shot also narrowly missed a staffer, according to the bill memo.
Hochul's veto message said: “Hunting opportunities are already heavily regulated in Suffolk County, and the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has the statutory authority to regulate hunting in New York,” Hochul said in her veto message. “This bill would undermine DEC's statutory authority over wildlife governance and would establish a problematic precedent.”

In a statement a DEC spokeswoman said the agency investigated the incident and initiated charges against the hunter. 

The bill memo stated the January incident was the latest in a string of dangerous activities near the wildlife rescue center since 2004, when hunting was first permitted at the nearby Henrys Hollow State Forest. The legislation would have only applied to state land near a licensed wildlife center in Southampton Town.

The bill was approved by the State Legislature in June.

January is the only firearms deer hunting season in Suffolk County and shooting a gun within 500 feet of an occupied structure is illegal in New York State without the building owner’s consent.

The DEC said it added "no hunting" signage to the area and added Environmental Conservation Officers to patrol the area.

Thiele in a statement said the bill was not anti-hunting and blamed the DEC for derailing what he called “common sense legislation to avoid another life-threatening incident.”

“I have sponsored numerous bills to expand hunting opportunities safely across the State,” he said. “This legislation only applied to one parcel in the entire state where a public safety risk was clearly demonstrated.”

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese covers Suffolk County government and politics. She joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.