To: Governor Beverly Perdue, NC Wildlife Commission Executive Director Gordon Myers, Members of the Legislature

We respectfully request protection and enforcement of private property rights by instituting an immediate and permanent ban on Dog Deer Hunting in Orange County North Carolina.

Whereas: The owners of private property possess rights regarding the enjoyment, use, safety and peace of their property that legally surpass the privileges of hunters or any sportsman who impinge on those private property owners of rights, and

Whereas: Orange County's population is too dense to allow Dog Deer Hunting which creates an inevitable and growing conflict between residents and hunters and their dogs, and

Whereas:  Deer hunters using loose dogs, by their own admission, cannot prevent their dogs from trespassing and/or doing damage to private property and persist with full knowledge and understanding that laws will be broken, and

Whereas: Law enforcement agencies are unable to control trespassing, harassment and damage perpetrated by hunters with loose dogs, and

Whereas: Dog Deer Hunting is responsible for hunting complaints involving arson, trespassing, harassment, threats of bodily injury, animal cruelty and livestock killings, and
Whereas: Trespassing, damage, and harassment from dogs and hunters lowers the value, desirability, and function of private property, and

Whereas: The Board of County Commissioners has voted unanimously to ban the practice of Dog Deer Hunting in Orange County, and

Whereas: Loose dog hunting is banned for similar reasons in most of North Carolina including southern Orange County, and in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming

Therefore:

We, the undersigned residents and visitors of Orange County North Carolina, request that the practice of dog deer hunting be banned throughout Orange County.