Saw this article in the paper today and figured I'd pass it along...
I haven't read the full 15 page report, but noticed that a hunting option was listed last, after the use of sharp shooters. It may be my biast opinion but it seems that controlled archery hunting would be at a much great cost savings to the tax payers, plus it opens more opportunities for resident hunters.
http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2012/02/01/news/nh5043082.txt
Mentor officials came to Tuesday's deer management discussion armed with more than eyewitness testimony.
Along with more experts in the park and wildlife fields, city administrators presented City Council parts of a 15-page report detailing the city's situation and research gathered on area management programs.
If council agrees to proceed with plans to curb the herds, the administration recommends that the strategy incorporate the following:
-- Public information education.
-- Establish baseline data of herd size citywide.
-- Implement traffic safety program focused on avoiding deer collisions.
-- Initiate a sharpshooter deer culling program.
-- Consider regulated hunting as an ongoing method for managing the herd.
For the culling program, City Manager Ken Filipiak said the city could save money by using sharpshooters from within the Mentor Police Department. Continued...
123See Full Story
"Our primary cost would be some additional training and manpower," he said.
Council would need to adopt legislation approving a deer management plan supporting a Deer Damage Control Permit — issued by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife Division — and lift the ban on hunting and discharging firearms within the city for police personnel.
Filipiak said the permitting process to allow culling is an arduous one and, at earliest, such an option could be implemented in the fall.
An ordinance prohibiting deer feeding also is proposed.
Earl Lauridsen, who lives behind Blackbrook Golf Course, complained of neighbors who feed deer.
"I've spent thousands of dollars replacing landscaping," he said, adding another neighbor has hit deer twice — once totaling his vehicle.
One resident referred to them as "rats on hooves."
Wildlife experts provided plenty of anecdotal evidence that deer are having a detrimental effect on the area's biodiversity.
Jim Bissell of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, owner of Mentor Marsh Nature Preserve, talked of the native plants, birds and butterflies that are gone because hungry deer are competing for food.
"It's as bad as I see anywhere," he said. "Quite frankly, this city's in disaster mode." Continued...
123See Full Story
The city is pursuing funding via the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency to pilot roadside deer-deterrent technology on portions of Lake Shore Boulevard and Hopkins Road, both accident-prone areas.
Mentor had the highest number of vehicle-animal collisions between 2007 and 2009 out of all the communities in the region, according to NOACA statistics.
The technology being considered hasn't been used in Ohio but has proven effective elsewhere, Mentor Grants Coordinator Abe Bruckman said.
An infrared flyover count conducted in March indicated the city's northeast corner contained 33 deer per square mile, and statistics from Lake Metroparks' flyovers reveal an average of 120 deer per square mile at Veterans Park over the last decade. Experts say the recommended number in urban areas is up to 15 deer per square mile for a healthy herd and environment.
I haven't read the full 15 page report, but noticed that a hunting option was listed last, after the use of sharp shooters. It may be my biast opinion but it seems that controlled archery hunting would be at a much great cost savings to the tax payers, plus it opens more opportunities for resident hunters.
http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2012/02/01/news/nh5043082.txt
Mentor officials came to Tuesday's deer management discussion armed with more than eyewitness testimony.
Along with more experts in the park and wildlife fields, city administrators presented City Council parts of a 15-page report detailing the city's situation and research gathered on area management programs.
If council agrees to proceed with plans to curb the herds, the administration recommends that the strategy incorporate the following:
-- Public information education.
-- Establish baseline data of herd size citywide.
-- Implement traffic safety program focused on avoiding deer collisions.
-- Initiate a sharpshooter deer culling program.
-- Consider regulated hunting as an ongoing method for managing the herd.
For the culling program, City Manager Ken Filipiak said the city could save money by using sharpshooters from within the Mentor Police Department. Continued...
123See Full Story
"Our primary cost would be some additional training and manpower," he said.
Council would need to adopt legislation approving a deer management plan supporting a Deer Damage Control Permit — issued by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Wildlife Division — and lift the ban on hunting and discharging firearms within the city for police personnel.
Filipiak said the permitting process to allow culling is an arduous one and, at earliest, such an option could be implemented in the fall.
An ordinance prohibiting deer feeding also is proposed.
Earl Lauridsen, who lives behind Blackbrook Golf Course, complained of neighbors who feed deer.
"I've spent thousands of dollars replacing landscaping," he said, adding another neighbor has hit deer twice — once totaling his vehicle.
One resident referred to them as "rats on hooves."
Wildlife experts provided plenty of anecdotal evidence that deer are having a detrimental effect on the area's biodiversity.
Jim Bissell of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, owner of Mentor Marsh Nature Preserve, talked of the native plants, birds and butterflies that are gone because hungry deer are competing for food.
"It's as bad as I see anywhere," he said. "Quite frankly, this city's in disaster mode." Continued...
123See Full Story
The city is pursuing funding via the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency to pilot roadside deer-deterrent technology on portions of Lake Shore Boulevard and Hopkins Road, both accident-prone areas.
Mentor had the highest number of vehicle-animal collisions between 2007 and 2009 out of all the communities in the region, according to NOACA statistics.
The technology being considered hasn't been used in Ohio but has proven effective elsewhere, Mentor Grants Coordinator Abe Bruckman said.
An infrared flyover count conducted in March indicated the city's northeast corner contained 33 deer per square mile, and statistics from Lake Metroparks' flyovers reveal an average of 120 deer per square mile at Veterans Park over the last decade. Experts say the recommended number in urban areas is up to 15 deer per square mile for a healthy herd and environment.
Last edited: