Two groups rebuffed by a judge in the fall are asking a federal appeals court to halt the program before it begins again next November.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Bernstein said the government would file a "vigorous" response this week on behalf of the National Park Service, which holds that Valley Forge's precious forests are fighting for their lives against the deer's voracity.
The Park Service also says the carcasses are serving a humanitarian purpose: feeding the needy. The Chester County Food Bank estimates that it has received more than 3,000 pounds of fresh-ground venison from Valley Forge.
Jeff Houdret, who lives next to the park and has mixed feelings about the culling, said he had noticed a distinct dearth of deer recently. It could be a function of seasonal behavior. Still, "If I went in there with a gun this afternoon," he said, "I don't think I would get one."
The park's plan calls for killing 500 deer annually over four years, and ultimately reducing the herd more than 85 percent, from an estimated 1,275 to fewer than 200. After four years of hunting, the park might try birth-control measures. The program would run 15 years, with a cost of up to $2.9 million.
In November alone, 225 deer were killed in the park, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
The appeal filed by Friends of Animals and Compassion for Animals, Respect for the Environment (CARE) argues that the Park Service adopted a shoot-first, ask-questions-later policy, rather than seriously weighing other options.
"The only alternatives that the agency considered viable amounted to a choice between shooting the deer on the one hand, and shooting them on the other," the appeal states.
