Something must be done, right?
What's been done isn't working. We continue to pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into removing deer from the city only to have them rebound. Right now Solon is approaching having spent a million dollars, and we're back to square one with the deer population. It's time to implement a proven, permanent solution to keeping deer off the roads.
It's a safety issue!
Yes it is, but which issue are you referring to? You don't solve car accidents by discharging deadly weapons in a crowded city.
We often hear the word "SAFETY" used without further explanation, different people often mean different things by this same word. The city finds that deer crossing the road is a safety issue, but we don't hear them addressing distracted or speeding drivers which are more likely to be involved in a Deer Vehicle Accident (DVA). We hear the city suggest the use of sharpshooters and bow hunters to solve the DVA safety issue without hearing about the safety aspects of using deadly weapons in a confined urban environment.
When you hear the word "SAFETY", ask that this be fully explained.
Q. What's wrong with sharpshooters?
Do you realize shooting is happening in or near backyards? Solon is built out. There are no miles of woods anymore. This is a residential community of 25,000 people. See Sharpshooter article.
Q. What's wrong with bow-hunting?
Razor tipped arrows travel 120 yards. Once they're released, the hunter has no control of where it lands, and if it misses, it can travel into neighbor's yards....The flying razor is deadly and any arrows found by children – hazardous. See Bowhunting article.
Q. What about all the starving deer? Don't we need to kill deer so they don't starve?
What starving deer? When was the last, or first, time you, or anyone you know, for that matter, saw a starved deer carcass in your backyard or anywhere else in Solon? In fact, Ohio Division of Wildlife Biologist, Mike Tonkavich stated in 2010 that the deer herd is healthier than ever. Click here for related article.
Q. Aren't Deer Vehicle Accidents (DVAs) a safety problem that require our use of lethal methods?
Q. Don’t we need to thin the herd? Killing deer decreases odds of a DVA, but surviving deer are not addressed by this method. DVA deterrents address ALL the deer. Killing deer makes the surviving herd stronger and there will be arebound effect. DVA deterrents do not cause a rebound effect.
Both these agencies ODOW and USDA WS receive the bulk of their funding from hunting interests. Their goal is to expand hunting into urban environments and thus earn more in hunting fees. They have a serious conflict of interest.
Q. What about the destruction of the understory?
A field researcher for the Metropark’s admitted that no in depth study has ever been done to show what is causing the understory to decline. And, the Metroparks has been killing it’s deer for the past 14 years in a row, yet they’re still having a problem. If it truly was the deer, we should see an improvement, but we don't?
Q. But the deer eat my plants and damage my trees?
We live with all kinds of wildlife. That is life on the planet. We couldn't possibly justify eradicating a species because they ate your flowers.
Plant what they don’t eat. Wrap your saplings in the fall. Click Garden Label for more info.
Q. If non-lethal is effective, why aren’t cities using it?
Communities all over the country are using non-lethal methods with great success. How else can they protect the roads in states such as Montana where populations of large animals, such as deer, elk and moose, are much too large to manage by hunting. They use Streiter Lites. (link)
Q. What about Trap and Release?
Ohio Law, influenced by ODOW hunting interests, does not allow trap and release.
Q: What about Deer Contraception?
Ohio Law, influenced by ODOW hunting interests, does not allow contraception in Ohio, it considers its use "experimental" despite the FDA approving it and its successful use in other states. See Lethal Laws article.
Do you realize shooting is happening in or near backyards? Solon is built out. There are no miles of woods anymore. This is a residential community of 25,000 people. See Sharpshooter article.
Q. But these hunters are professionals?
They're just people, they aren't perfect marksmen. Accidents still happen. Solon’s bow hunting proposal presented in early 2011 was for shooting to be done by residents and city employees - amateurs with lethal weapons. This is not safe. See Safety Ambiguity article.
They're just people, they aren't perfect marksmen. Accidents still happen. Solon’s bow hunting proposal presented in early 2011 was for shooting to be done by residents and city employees - amateurs with lethal weapons. This is not safe. See Safety Ambiguity article.
Q. What's wrong with bow-hunting?
Razor tipped arrows travel 120 yards. Once they're released, the hunter has no control of where it lands, and if it misses, it can travel into neighbor's yards....The flying razor is deadly and any arrows found by children – hazardous. See Bowhunting article.
Q. What about all the starving deer? Don't we need to kill deer so they don't starve?
What starving deer? When was the last, or first, time you, or anyone you know, for that matter, saw a starved deer carcass in your backyard or anywhere else in Solon? In fact, Ohio Division of Wildlife Biologist, Mike Tonkavich stated in 2010 that the deer herd is healthier than ever. Click here for related article.
Q. Aren't Deer Vehicle Accidents (DVAs) a safety problem that require our use of lethal methods?
As long as there exists wildlife in a community, you are going to have animals trying to cross the road. Killing some doesn’t stop the remaining wildlife from going into the road. The only approach that makes sense is to keep wildlife, specifically deer, out of the road. DVA deterrents do just that.
Q. Don’t we need to thin the herd? Killing deer decreases odds of a DVA, but surviving deer are not addressed by this method. DVA deterrents address ALL the deer. Killing deer makes the surviving herd stronger and there will be arebound effect. DVA deterrents do not cause a rebound effect.
Q. But the dead deer will go to feed people? The city spent over $500/deer to have them killed. You could feed more people with $500 of groceries than you can with the usable meat from one deer.
Q. Doesn’t the Ohio Division of Wildlife, (ODOW) and the administrators in Solon know what’s best? Isn’t this their business? Yes, this is their business. In fact, the ODOW gets its funding from the sale of hunting licenses. This presents a bias and conflict of interest. The USDA Wildlife Services (WS) serves as the hunters for the nation. They are paid by salaried tax dollars. If they’re not killing wildlife, they’re not being paid. Another conflict of interest. Many of our city administrators, including the Public Works Commissioner who is putting the Deer Mgmt Plan together for the city, are hunters. Another conflict of interest. Are they really doing what’s best for the city or for themselves?
Q. What about the destruction of the understory?
A field researcher for the Metropark’s admitted that no in depth study has ever been done to show what is causing the understory to decline. And, the Metroparks has been killing it’s deer for the past 14 years in a row, yet they’re still having a problem. If it truly was the deer, we should see an improvement, but we don't?
Q. But the deer eat my plants and damage my trees?
We live with all kinds of wildlife. That is life on the planet. We couldn't possibly justify eradicating a species because they ate your flowers.
Plant what they don’t eat. Wrap your saplings in the fall. Click Garden Label for more info.
Q. If non-lethal is effective, why aren’t cities using it?
Communities all over the country are using non-lethal methods with great success. How else can they protect the roads in states such as Montana where populations of large animals, such as deer, elk and moose, are much too large to manage by hunting. They use Streiter Lites. (link)
Q. What about Trap and Release?
Ohio Law, influenced by ODOW hunting interests, does not allow trap and release.
Q: What about Deer Contraception?
Ohio Law, influenced by ODOW hunting interests, does not allow contraception in Ohio, it considers its use "experimental" despite the FDA approving it and its successful use in other states. See Lethal Laws article.
