It is starting already. Nobody is pleased with the deer killing plan recently approved by Kristen Linfante, Steve Silverman, and Dave Brumfield. Both sides of the deer management controversy are agreeing that the plan which will begin on February 1, 2015 is a bad one.
For years, the Trib's Colin McNickle has been quite vocal over his distain with the deer in Mt. Lebanon. In Pittsburgh Laurels & Lances:
An observation: Years of dickering and dithering over culling Mt. Lebanon's exploding deer population has led to a plan to corral and shoot deer by a conflicted contractor (a consultant for the municipality turned culler who never has used the methodology) and at a cost to taxpayers of $500 per deer (up to $75,000). The cull will bow next week. But had Mt. Lebanon run a consistent program over the years, using local licensed hunters, it would have cost virtually nothing.Laura Simon, wildlife biologist at The Humane Society of the United States, has submitted another opinion piece to The Almanac this week, Killing deer won’t resolve Mt. Lebanon’s issues. Her last submission got the pro-kill ladies in a tizzy at the last commission meeting.
Mt. Lebanon’s deer killing plan is a huge mistake. There’s good reason other communities aren’t using corrals to entrap deer and then trying to shoot them point-blank.
First, this method is inefficient. Few deer will even come into the corrals. By virtue of being located in “safe” park areas, those deer who are trapped won’t even be the same ones bothering people in the residential areas.
Second, this new plan is a total waste of taxpayer money. Deer numbers will quickly pop up again as new deer move into the area and more fawns are born. It’s a phenomenon called “compensatory reproduction,” which means that when deer have better nutrition, they breed at a younger age and have higher fawn survival. The net result is a population surge after a hunting decline.
Third, this plan is inhumane. When the corral gate shuts, the deer will panic and slam into the fencing. The result will be broken legs and necks. If the city goes ahead with this misguided plan, we highly encourage residents to demand that an objective observer or the press be allowed to see this spectacle.
Fourth, the $500 per deer could have been more wisely spent on a sterilization project, which would have cost a bit more, yet actually lowered the population.
Fifth, it is worth questioning the safety of any plan in which deer are shot, night and day, with rifles in areas so close to human dwellings.
Finally, we question what appears to be a real conflict of interest in this case. The company that received the contract to kill deer is the same company that’s been paid to advise Mt. Lebanon officials.
The Humane Society of the United States urges Mt. Lebanon to show true leadership and invest in an innovative, effective, humane and long-term solution. That is, one that utilizes deer-resistant gardening strategies, state-of-the-art fertility control options and successful collision reduction strategies already in operation elsewhere.
Overall, the city’s decision to allow deer to be corralled and shot is inhumane, reckless and doomed to fail. Let’s hope community leaders have the good sense to call it off.
Laura Simon
Wildlife Biologist at The Humane Society of the United States
This is an excellent Oped by Laura Simon, wildlife biologist, from the Humane Society of the United States. She just nailed it, and exposed all the bad judgments made by this Commission. I don't know what to add, only that I wish the Commission would some how come to its senses before there's an accident. This killing plan won't resolve any deer conflicts, and the use of high powered rifles in our densely populated community puts all of Mt. Lebanon's families, children, and pets at risk. What are they thinking? And are they now so entrenched in their wrong thinking, that they won't have the courage to call this totally misguided deer killing program off.
ReplyDelete"If the city goes ahead with this misguided plan, we highly encourage residents to demand that an objective observer or the press be allowed to see this spectacle."
ReplyDeleteI think this is an excellent recommendation. We need an objective observer, maybe a safety and a humane agent, to not only witness this killing method, but to record the process so that other safety and humane experts can evaluate what's happening. In addition, the taxpayers have a right to view what's going on with their tax dollars.
The Mt. Lebanon administration and some (at least one) of the Commissioners has consistently lied to the public, and so we can't believe them anymore. In addition, we can't believe what Merlin Benner says, because his story keeps changing all the time.
The killing method that he described to the Trib's Matt Santoni was completely different than the description in his RFP response, and since he's never done this before, he probably doesn't know what he's doing.
He's using rifles that shoot ammunition with a 2.20 mile maximum range. A missed, ricochet, or misfired shot poses serious safety risks to all Mt. Lebanon's families,and others passing through the community
We need an objective observer to videotape exactly what he is doing so this killing method can be reviewed by objective safety and humane experts.
We are tired of being lied to and mislead by this administration. This deer trap and "euthanization" process needs to be witnessed and recorded. No one from the administration is going to tell the public that this program isn't safe or humane. So the public needs to have a witness there to watch and record the process for the record.