Protesters rallied in Suffolk County Wednesday in an effort to stop the state from killing nearly 200 deer.
Federal marksmen are scheduled to shoot and kill dozens of deer to control the population.
Authorities say it will improve safety, but protesters say it's unnecessary and inhumane.
"It's absolutely inhumane," says Collette Porciello.
The state says they need to cull the deer population to reduce the risk of collision with cars and control damage to their habitats and homeowners' property.
Smithtown resident Michele Koerner says drivers should just slow down.
"If people drove correctly, they wouldn't have a problem," Koerner says.
The deer would be killed at various parks including Caleb Smith State Park in Smithtown and Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay.
A spokesman for New York says deer culling is "unfortunate, but necessary."
He says the meat will be donated to local food banks.
Authorities have not said when the shooters will start culling the deer.