News

A Pennsylvania judge has dismissed a lawsuit that would have allowed animal activists to prohibit hunting on properties that are left to the government as charitable trusts.

On Sept. 24, Judge Lawrence Brenner sided with Lehigh County Attorney Thomas Caffrey when he determined that three anti-hunters did not meet the legal criteria necessary to sue to stop an archery hunt in the Trexler Game Preserve. Lehigh County's position is that only the state attorney general's office or trustees of the Harry C. Trexler Trust, which annually funds the preserve, have the legal standing to challenge the county's policy.

Plaintiffs Virginia Wolfe, president of the Lehigh Valley Animal Rights Coalition; Shawn Hubler; and Carol Loomis claimed that hunting runs contrary to the intent of the late Gen. Harry Trexler, who deeded to property to the county in 1933. None of the women have any connection to the Harry C. Trexler Trust, nor could they prove their claim that the late Gen. Trexler, who died more than 70 years ago, would not have approved of the hunt.

Jane Roth, executive director of the trust said it does not take issue with the hunt.

The county entered into a cooperative agreement with the state that will allow archery deer and turkey hunting, beginning on Sept. 29, on 471 acres of the 1,100-acre preserve.

The activists said they may appeal Judge Lawrence Brenner's decision in hopes of stopping hunting on the preserve in future years, but acknowledged there's little they can do to prevent archers from beginning their hunting.