I spent a good bit of time in college studying wildlife management.  I do understand the deer herds need to be managed in areas of population.  Cayuga Heights, NY is wrestling with a deer population that is making those in the village unhappy for any number of reasons.  With expanding development, deer all across NY are appearing in urban areas – on parkways, in the middle of village streets, in backyard gardens.

Cayuga Heights has been the focus of doctoral theses from Cornell students  and deer management committees for at least a decade.  The problem, as I see it, is as much how the village government is handling the public as it is the plan they wish to put in place.

Cayuga Heights wants to sterilize a number – depending on which trustee you ask between 30 and 60 – of does.  This is not an uncommon practice in wildlife management.  Hunters tend to want to hunt the male of the deer species while it is the female that actually helps with population control.  To sterilize a female deer, though, is an expensive proposition with cost being around $1000.00.

To help with control of deer near Cornell University, the University is using a combination of sterilization and an “earn a buck” program.  The “earn a buck” program requires that two does be shot and killed prior to being able to hunt a buck.  The University has been using this on property in Van Etten for ten years with success so is now using it on border property around the campus in Ithaca, NY.  Success of the program is not going to be measured by a decreased deer population, but by a decrease in deer-related damages – whether deer-vehicle accidents or plant loss costs.  You can read more about this program in an article written for The Ithaca Journal on July 26, 2009 and found at http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20090726/NEWS01/907260346

In my mind, there are two different problems with the solution that Cayuga Heights is proposing.  The first issue involves baiting and killing deer that are not sterilized.  There are many other ways to control the white-tailed deer population.  This just happens to be the most expedient for the village.  There are inherent issues with culling in this manner.  The village could institute, as Cornell did, an “earn a buck” situation.  This would actually not be done by the village as hunting in NYS is regulated through the Department of Environmental Conservation and licensing.  Each region of the state has different hours and rules so this type of  situation could be approached through DEC.

The second, and ultimately – in my mind – more serious, issue is the stopping of all public commentary on the deer issue for 60 days.  On August 10, 2009, the Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees voted “to limit presentations at privilege of the floor for 60 days to non-deer-related topics while still accepting input on the deer topic in writing.”  This means any person commenting on the deer issue in the public comment period of the Trustees’ meetings will be told to stop and the comments to be disregarded.  This is akin to saying that the public’s voice does not matter.

Rutting season for the white-tailed deer begins in the fall, usually October in the Northeast.  To have sterilization be effective, the village would need to sterilize the does prior to the beginning of rutting season.  This means that public comment on this is issue will not begin again until after, in all likelihood, the issue is resolved.  This is not the way a democracy should work!  This closes government to the residents of Cayuga Heights.  The only step that might make Cayuga Heights government more closed would be for the trustees to meet in private.

I have included several links to various reading materials on Cayuga Heights below.  I also used Trippensee’s Wildlife Management, Vol 2 as a reference.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/March99/CH_deer_survey.html

http://www.news.cornell.edu/chronicle/99/4.22.99/deer_survey.html

http://www.vchdeercommittee.com/

http://www.dnr.cornell.edu/hdru/pubs/HDRUReport01-7.pdf

http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20090812/NEWS01/908120321/Enough–Board-bans-deer-discussion&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

http://cayugadeer.org/

http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20090722/NEWS01/907220316

http://animalrights.change.org/actions/view/shot_for_a_tulip_-_say_no_to_cayuga_heights_nys_deer-killing_plan