Mt. Lebanon deer culling begins; no numbers released
By David Conti and Mike Wereschagin
Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015, 6:12 p.m.
Connecticut-based White Buffalo Inc., which is overseeing the hunt's archers and secured rights to hunt on private property, did not respond to phone calls. Mt. Lebanon spokeswoman Susan Morgans said she did not know whether the archers killed any deer.
The town tried culling deer last winter by luring them into corrals and shooting them, but protesters sprayed deer repellent around the corrals. Six deer were killed.
Mt. Lebanon and White Buffalo officials won't say on which private properties the archers hunted Saturday.
Jason Margolis, a resident opposed to the deer control project, said that's a safety concern.
“It's just a matter of time until a wounded deer will run out into traffic or in front of children,” he said.
Allegheny County 911 dispatchers said they had no reports of injuries connected to the hunt. Hunting will continue daily, except for Sundays, until Jan. 31, but Morgans said the municipality will not issue daily reports.
“They just want to make it go away. They want to keep it quiet, keep it hidden,” Margolis said.
Archers are scheduled to begin targeting deer in municipal parks Monday.
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Nothing mentioned about killing deer in the Mellon PTA newsletter:
From: Mellon Middle School PTA Newsletter [mailto:ljschrott5@mtlsd.ccsend.com] On Behalf Of Mellon Middle School PTA Newsletter
Sent: Sunday, September 20, 2015 4:01 PM
To: Mellon PTA Parent
Subject: Mellon Memo 9/20/15 [MTLPTA]
Sent: Sunday, September 20, 2015 4:01 PM
To: Mellon PTA Parent
Subject: Mellon Memo 9/20/15 [MTLPTA]
No numbers and no locations. Are they selectively limiting information/audience to suppress unpopular ideas and/or to manipulate public debate through coercion rather than persuasion? They say they can't share the locations b/c of what? Isn't the risk to the public greater than the risk to the private individual or archer? Do residents have a lawful right of access to this information?
ReplyDeleteTony DeNicola has been involved in similar secretive deer culls.
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15118110032201916489&q=denicola+deer+cull&hl=en&as_sdt=6,47
I posted a link to the contract on my website. During a conversation I had with a reporter from the Trib, I realized that nothing was mentioned about holding back the numbers of deer kills until after archery season is over.
ReplyDeleteKeith McGill told the reporter that he will not be told how many deer are/were killed until the end of January. McGill did confirm that the archery program began today in public parks and last Saturday on private property.
Elaine
What really puzzles me is how "protesters" are always blamed for Merlin's failure. I was a protester but I never went near the corrals. Not Protesters protest. They don't sabotage. And what exactly was that repellant everyone accuses us of using? The deer haters say that repellants don't work. Sounds like whatever we "protesters" used, should be used by the gardeners.
ReplyDeleteElaine