Thus far, the arguments presented to support a deer killing program have been largely unsubstantiated, and have proven to be especially weak when examined in light of data specific to Cayuga Heights. Here are a few examples:

There is no data demonstrating that the deer population in Cayuga Heights is spiralling out of control, bringing with it more and more deer-vehicle collisions (DVC’s). In fact, the village police reported 7 confirmed DVC’s in 2008, down from 12 in 2007, and 11 in 2006.⁶ In 2001, a report by Cornell’s Department of Natural Resources found that the rate of DVC’s in Cayuga Heights had been approximately 10 per year for the previous six years.⁷ So, for more than fifteen years now, the rate of DVC’s has been remarkably stable.

To keep things in perspective, no DVC in recent years has resulted in serious human injury, likely due to Cayuga Heights’ relatively low speed limit. Most fatalities from DVC’s
nationwide happen in speed zones of 55 mph or higher, when the victims are not wearing seat belts or motorcycle helmets.⁸

Insurance reports have shown that DVC’s spike 300-400% in some communities on the first weekend of hunting season,⁹ likely due to startled and injured deer scattering into nearby
roadways. This could explain why DVC’s sometimes actually increase after bait-and-shoot programs are implemented.¹⁰

Biodiversity and bird populations at risk?

Bait-and-shoot proponents have claimed that the deer are destroying the environment and decimating bird populations in Cayuga Heights. However, when contacted, neither the National Audubon Society nor Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology knew of any documentation of bird species being adversely affected by the presence of deer in the village.¹¹

Recent studies at Ohio State University found that the presence of deer is actually helpful to other animal species, and that programs to reduce their populations may be detrimental to a region’s biodiversity. “Culling deer may cascade into affecting plants, salamanders and other creatures in ways we can’t even imagine,” said OSU researcher Katherine Greenwald. “Officials need to know more about the forest ecosystem before making decisions about wildlife management.”¹² Another study showed that some forest
understory-dwelling birds benefit from deer-grazing, and that the presence of deer decreased populations of rodents that preyed on ground birds’ nests.¹³

Donated venison will help those in need?

Few people realize that venison obtained from deer killing programs is exempt from USDA inspection, and is not necessarily safe. Venison from Irondequoit, NY’s bait-and-shoot program, donated to Attica prison, was deemed unfit for human consumption and discarded.¹⁴ The EPA states, “While it may seem that hunting your own game, catching your own fish, or gathering wild plant foods would reduce your overall exposure to pesticides, that isn’t necessarily true. If you eat wild animals or plants from areas where pesticides are frequently used, this food may contain pesticide residues.”¹⁵

Deer meat from a bait-and-shoot program is also likely to contain lead from the bullets used. Lead is a potent neurotoxin, and there is no safe level of exposure. It causes neurological,
gastrointestinal and reproductive disorders, and can potentially cause brain damage or death in children that consume even small amounts.¹⁶ North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin recently discarded thousands of pounds of donated venison due to the discovery of lead contamination.¹⁷ Dr. William Cornatzer, a medical researcher at the University of North Dakota, found lead in 60% of samples of ground venison that had been donated to food programs.¹⁸

A bait-and-shoot program will use valuable tax dollars to bring contracted deer killers into our community year after year. Other communities that have gone down this path have experienced turmoil and division, with local law enforcement officers placed in the middle, forced to provide security for shooters not under their command, in a setting where the killing of human-habituated animals provoked deep upset and anger. While it’s still unclear how a bait-and-shoot program would be carried out here, residents in other communities have described these programs as resembling military operations, with helicopter fly-overs and armed men taking over their public spaces.¹⁹

In Irondequoit, NY, where a deer killing program was implemented, resident Sandy Baker reported that wounded and bleeding deer wandered into people’s yards, traumatizing children. “Best friends don’t even talk to each other anymore,” she said at a 2001 public meeting in Cayuga Heights. “The killing programs are the ones that have polarized the community... All I can say is please try to resist any kill program.”

Does it make sense to undertake an expensive, risk-laden program that some residents feel will be a violation of their values, and even traumatic?

In a 2001 survey, only 15-30% of Cayuga Heights residents said they’d approve of a deer killing program.²⁰ And at recent public meetings, the vast majority of citizens speaking out have been vigorously opposed to killing deer. These numbers will only grow if a bait-and-shoot program gets put into place and people begin to witness firsthand the reality of a systematic killing operation.

In fact, a bait-and-shoot program in Rochester Hills, Michigan, was recently cancelled after only one month, due to overwhelming citizen protest. One Councilman said, “The solution has become worse than the problem.”²¹ Another commented on the rush to cull, saying “Let’s learn something from this, and not ever do anything like this again.”²²

Wildlife biologists and hunters know that killing deer does not necessarily lead to reduction in the size of a herd.²³ Whenever there’s an abrupt, short-term drop in the deer population, as would occur following a bait-and-shoot operation, a phenomenon called “compensatory rebound” comes into effect. Since the same amount of food is now available to a smaller number of animals, the bodies of the deer react by becoming more fertile, with more incidences of twin and triplet fawns, and with yearlings going into estrus early.²⁴ This can actually lead to an even greater population of deer the following year.²⁵

So, wherever culling programs are implemented, the killing itself creates the need for even more killing, which must be maintained year after year after year, at great expense to tax-payers. In Princeton, New Jersey, a proposed 5-year program has now been going on for nine years straight. In Solon, Ohio, a proposed 2-year program is currently in its 5th year. In fact, some bait-and-shoot programs have ended not when the deer population reached a desired level, but when the municipalities implementing the programs could no longer afford them, leaving them back where they started, only now considerably
poorer.²⁶

Unlike many other communities implementing bait-and-shoot programs, Cayuga Heights has very few potential sites that are far enough from human dwellings for shooting to legally be carried out, and these few locations tend to be toward the perimeters of the village. Hence, there is no guarantee that killing a number of deer on one end of the village will prevent deer from damaging landscaping in other parts of the village.

Furthermore, Cayuga Heights is completely embedded within other municipalities. With no geographic barriers to overcome, deer from surrounding neighborhoods are likely to move in as new territory is freed up by the village’s temporary drop in deer population.

DRAC members don't acknowledge a bias toward deer killing that has been clearly documented on several occasions, and even openly admitted to by the committee's chairperson.

DRAC Chairperson denies committee's pro-killing bias

DRAC's first public act was to tell the Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees: "We propose that the primary means of decreasing the deer population will be culling the herd using expertly trained marksmen from the Cayuga Heights Police Dept."²⁷

Cayuga Heights Mayor Jim Gilmore, who assembled DRAC, is a member of DRAC, and is DRAC's primary media spokesperson, has on many occasions announced his intention to implement a deer killing program. In the Fall 2008 issue of The Cayuga Heights Courier he wrote, "My recommendation to DRAC is to cull the herd."²⁸ A December article in The Ithaca Journal states: "Those who favor culling the herd, including Gilmore, argue that baiting and shooting is necessary..."²⁹

Nevertheless, at DRAC's January meeting, with a reporter from the Ithaca Journal present, Chairperson Kate Supron proclaimed, "when it's presented that this committee has focused on culling and that's all they're looking at -- we have never said that, I certainly never said that."³⁰

Supron's claims are contradicted not only by published documents and by the Mayor's comments to local journalists, but by an interchange that occurred two months earlier, when newly appointed DRAC member Elizabeth Mount said at a DRAC meeting, "I really think we need to broaden this committee, because basically you all believe in culling," to which Supron responded, "True," and then laughed.³¹

After freely admitting that the committee was biased, Supron is now expressing bewilderment at where this impression has come from, saying: "oftentimes we get a lot of questions that assume, in the asking, that we are supportive exclusively of culling. It's been presented that way in various interviews, CayugaDeer I think has largely presented that we're a pro-culling committee, and if there's something I'm missing, please bring it to my attention."³²

Specifically, they base their argument on three risks they associate with the presence of deer in our community: 1) Car accidents, 2) disease, and 3) aggression.³³ The majority of DRAC members argue that instituting an annual bait-and-shoot program will enhance public safety by reducing these stated risks.

However, as detailed below, statements made by several members of DRAC at public meetings and in published documents reveal a pattern of exaggeration, misinformation, contradiction and faulty reasoning, calling into question the rationality of the process used to assess risks and evaluate various alternatives.

Further, even though their case is based on public safety concerns, members of DRAC have not publicly disclosed or debated the public safety risks associated with an annual program that involves discharging firearms in our densely populated suburban community. Nor have they offered evidence to prove that a bait and shoot program would not itself pose a greater threat to public safety than any of the concerns they have raised about deer.

DEC representative says they don't get involved in recommending deer numbers. a

Kate Supron, Chair of DRAC, stated at one meeting that, "We have too many deer, approximately three times the amount the DEC recommends."³⁴ In the Cayuga Heights Courier, she wrote, "The number of deer is more than double the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation's recommended population for a Village the size of ours.^"35

Mayor Gilmore has reinforced this fallacy, saying that he recommends killing deer to bring "the numbers within recommended Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) levels."³⁶

Yet, Dave Riehlman, Senior Wildlife Biologist with the DEC, told DRAC members, "As far as the number of deer you want around... we pretty much defer to you. It's your community. How many deer or what level of impacts do you want? And so we aren't going to get involved in the process where we say, you ought to have 35 deer per square mile here, no more, no less."³⁷

Faulty reasoning: The decision to carry out a bait-and-shoot program in Cayuga Heights is only of concern to those living within the Village limits.

In a community as geographically interconnected as ours, whose decision should it be?

However, the Village of Cayuga Heights, with a total area of only 1.4 square miles, is completely embedded within several other densely populated municipalities. Neither deer, nor the bullets that will be used to kill them, recognize the municipal boundaries drawn on a map. The fact is, thousands of people travel, study, work, shop, recreate, and reside in neighborhoods within firearm range of any location within Cayuga Heights. Does it make sense to consider imposing a serious risk on these citizens without disclosure, and without seeking their consent? (Click here to see if you are within range of a stray bullet)

A tragic encounter with wildlife is mischaracterized as an example of deer-human aggression.

"There was no sign of aggression," said Steve Martarano of the California Dept. of Fish and Game, commenting on the Ron Dudek case. "This was a startled deer that tried to get out any way it can and ended up hooking the victim"⁴⁰

Commenting on the Ron Dudek case, Larry Hawkins of the USDA said that nationwide, deer attacks are rare.⁴¹

Contradiction: Citing as evidence numerous examples of how deer failed to react aggressively in response to her own aggressive actions toward them, the Chair of DRAC makes the case that the deer in our area pose a threat to public safety.

Kate Supron's examples demonstrate aggression on her part, but prove nothing about aggression in deer. a

"When you open your door in Cayuga Heights and walk out and yell at the deer, nothing happens. If you pick up a rock and throw it at the deer, nothing happens. If you hit them, they sort of turn and look at you. Diane and I are both runners and we go out and run in the early morning, and you come right up on a deer, and they don't move. If you're on a trail running, and you come upon a deer, it doesn't move. It advances toward you, and it's really frightening. I mean, I haven't had a deer charge me, but I could see that happening. I mean, they're scary, large animals."⁴²

Contradiction: DRAC members invoke the potential danger posed by deer infected with Chronic Wasting Disease*, which is similar to Mad Cow Disease, and is potentially transmissable to humans through the consumption of meat from an infected animal. Yet they repeatedly extol the public service a bait and shoot program would provide by supplying deer meat to area food banks.
* Note: there have only been two cases of CWD found amongst NY State's wild deer population.

If Chronic Wasting Disease is one of the concerns motivating a bait and shoot program, why is DRAC proposing the deer meat be given to food banks?

"Future Committee and Village administration efforts will seek to improve overall safety and quality of life issues in connection with resolving the deer problem. These include vehicular safety/deer collisions, citizens and pets interacting with bucks during the rut or does protecting fawns, threat of lyme disease and chronic wasting disease... We propose that the primary means of decreasing the deer population will be culling the herd...We intend to distribute the venison to food pantries."
--Statement to Village Trustees, read by Deputy Mayor and DRAC member David Donner⁴³

"We have concerns about Chronic Wasting Disease, a huge problem in Michigan. It has touched New York briefly. We believe it has been eradicated, but we need to research this. This is a prion-based disease, we don't know much about this, but you use the word 'Mad Cow Disease' and people start to pay attention." --DRAC member John Hermanson⁴⁴

"I don't think it's a reason to shoot the deer -- that it could help alleviate hunger in our area -- but it's certainly a nice byproduct of a bait-and-shoot program that that meat would be used in its entirety by the Southern Tier Food Bank." --DRAC Chairperson Kate Supron⁴⁵

Contradiction: While one of DRAC's stated reasons for advocating the killing of deer is the risk they pose to drivers in Cayuga Heights, the committee's members have not seriously entertained any other approaches to reducing deer-car collisions, including those with a proven track record, such as deer fencing and roadside reflector technologies.

What does it mean when the same person who emphasizes the seriousness of a safety issue rejects a practical solution for reasons of aesthetics?

Yet, in the same meeting, his comments on a proposal for implementing non-lethal approaches to alleviating deer-human conflicts revealed other concerns: "Thinking about this idea about some sort of reflector, the only thing I can think of is, I don't think I want that in front of my house."

Just moments later, he again rejected these proven safety devices for aesthetic reasons, saying, "As far as reflectors and things of that nature, you know, when we talk about the beauty of our village, I'm not sure we want something like that."⁴⁶

Exaggeration and faulty reasoning: DRAC has listed the "threat of Lyme disease" as one of the justifications for the committee's support of a deer killing program.⁴⁷

With a rate of infection averaging 3.3 per 100,000 people, the incidence of Lyme Disease in Tompkins county is low compared to many other counties in New York state. For example, the state's average infection rate is 26.2 per 100,000, and some counties in the Hudson Valley and Long Island see hundreds of cases of Lyme Disease per 100,000 residents.⁴⁸ Of the few cases of Lyme disease seen in Tompkins county, it is believed that at least some of the them were contracted by people while traveling to areas where the incidence of the disease is much higher.

However, regardless of the rate of infection, it's important to understand that people don’t catch Lyme disease from deer. It is ticks that transmit the disease to humans. So, if our community is serious about lowering our already comparatively low rate of this disease, does it make sense to kill lots of deer? While it is true that deer and other large mammals play a part in the reproductive cycle of deer ticks, who feed on them before laying their eggs, most cases where killing deer has been shown to be effective in significantly reducing tick populations have been on islands and peninsulas where it was possible to carry the killing to the extent of near eradication.⁴⁹

To learn about more effective strategies for reducing the risk of Lyme disease, click here.

Exaggeration: The Chair of DRAC asserts that local vets are now recommending companion animals be vaccinated for Lyme disease.

"I know that Lyme disease is increasing in prominence, certainly in the pet population. Local vets are now recommending vaccinating all the house pets against Lyme disease because it is moving into our area." --Kate Supron, DRAC Chairperson⁵⁰

Both Cornell University Companion Animal Hospital and the largest local private vet hospital in our area do not make recommendations that people give their dogs, cats and other companion animals vaccinations for Lyme disease. Cornell only administers the vaccine to those who specifically request it for their animals, and the private vet hospital doesn't even keep the vaccine in stock.⁵¹ So, while it is possible there are local vets who will recommend vaccinating companion animals for Lyme disease, it is not the prevailing sentiment amongst those with the most veterinary expertise in our region.

Exaggeration: DRAC members have invoked the public health risk of contact with deer feces, yet there is no evidence to support this claim.

DRAC members claim deer feces pose a health risk in our community, though there is no evidence this is true.

"...there are children all over this village who play outside, and for heaven sakes, I'm not gonna tell my kids they can't play outside. I have a neighbor behind me who says they shouldn't be allowed to go on the grass, and her children aren't. That's not how I'm raising my kids... but when it rains and it dissolves, and they dig in the dirt, I don't think it's -- you know, I think kids should be allowed to play outside. And I think if it reaches the point where children can't play outside without wearing gloves, we're ignoring -- we're not trying to address the problem." --DRAC Chairperson Kate Supron⁵³

When contacted and asked about this issue, a representative of the Tompkins County Health Department stated that she had never heard of
deer feces being raised as a public health issue, nor of anyone in our county becoming ill as a result of contact with deer feces.

This web site is published by CayugaDeer.org - Ithacans for Safe, Ethical, and Rational Approaches to Reducing Deer-Human Conflict. We are a group of concerned citizens from Ithaca neighborhoods, including Cayuga Heights. If you would like to join our educational outreach effort and be informed of opportunities where your input can make a difference, contact us.

References:
1.  NY State Dept. of Health: 2004-06 Bureau of Communicable Disease Control Data as of July, 2008
2. and 3. Letter from Carol Mohler, Comm. Health Svcs Unit, Tompkins Co. Health Dept., 12/29/08
4.  Effects of Sustained Reduction of White-tailed Deer on the Abundance of Ixodes scapularis (Acari:Ixodidae) in an
     Endemic Lyme Disease ares in New Jersey, Jnl. of Medical Entomology, 2007
5.  Localized Deer Absence Leads to Tick Amplification, Ecology, 87(8), 2006
6.  Deer Remediation Advisory Committee meeting, Feb. 5, 2009; and “Statistics on Deer Accident
     and Incidents in Cayuga Heights,” memorandum prepared by Police Chief Thomas L. Boyce, 2008
7.  Summary Report of Cayuga Heights Deer Study Committee, Cornell Dept. of Nat. Resources, 2001
8.  Highway Loss Data Institute, News Release, Oct. 30, 2008
9.  Pennsylvania Deer-Vehicle Collisions Down Slightly, PR Newswire, Sept. 24, 2008
10. City wants OK to cull 175 deer in ‘08, Solon Herald Sun, Jan. 17, 2008
11. Phone inquiries made in February, 2009
12. Indirect Effects of a Keystone Herbivore Elevate Local Animal Diversity, Journal of Wildlife Management, 72(6), Aug. 2008
13. The impact of herbivory by deer on forest bird communities in Japan, Acta Zoologica Sinica 52(Supplement): 684-686,
      2006
14. Buffalo, NY Bait and Shoot, The C.A.S.H. Courier, 2004 Fall/Winter Issue
15. Citizen’s Guide to Pest Control and Pesticide Safety, Environmental Protection Agency, Mar., 2005
16. Lead Exposure in Children Affects Brain and Behavior, American Academy of Child & Adolescent
      Psychiatry, Facts for Families, No. 45, updated Nov. 2004
17. Lead fragments in venison a hot topic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 16, 2008
18. Lead found in donated venison at food shelves, Minneapolis-St.Paul Star Tribune, Mar. 28, 2008
19. Sparks fly over deer kill, The Oakland Press, January 28, 2009  Judge sides with city on deer cull, The Rochester
      Eccentric, January 21, 2009.
20. “Community Attitudes About Deer Management In the Village of Cayuga Heights, New York,”  Human Dimensions
      Research Unit Publication Series No. 01-7, May 2001
21. Deer cull was a catastrophe, Editorial, The Rochester Eccentric, February 19, 2009
22. Council votes to halt deer cull in Rochester Hills, Detroit Free Press, February 9, 2009
23. Restoring America’s Wildlife: 1937-1987, US Dept. of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service.
24. Reproductive Dynamics Among Disjunct White-Tailed Deer Herds in Florida, Journal of Wildlife Management. 49(4):964-
      971 (1985).
25. Quality Deer Management: Guidelines for Implementation, Ag. Extension Svc, Univ. of Tennessee.
26. Budget has job losses, no tax hikes in Mt. Lebanon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 6, 2008
27. Deer Remediation Committee statement read by Deputy Mayor David Donner at 8-18-08 Cayuga Heights Village
      Trustees Meeting (Note: this statement was removed from the Cayuga Heights web site shortly after CayugaDeer.org
      was launched).
28. "From the Mayor's Desk..." by Mayor Jim Gilmore, Cayuga Heights Courier, Fall 2008
29. Ithaca Journal article: "Village proposed culling in order to curb deer overpopulation" by Krisi Gashler, 12/8/08
30. DRAC meeting: 1/15/09
31. DRAC meeting: 11/6/08
32. DRAC meeting: 1/15/09
33. "Public saftey issues associated with our local deer herd," prepared by DRAC member John Hermanson
34. DRAC meeting: 10/23/08
35. "Deer Remediation Advisory Committee," by Kate Supron, Cayuga Heights Courier, Fall 2008
36. "From the Mayor's Desk..." by Mayor Jim Gilmore, Cayuga Heights Courier, Fall 2008
37. Cayuga Heights Village Trustees Meeting: 9/15/08
38. Cayuga Heights Village Trustees Meeting: 9/15/08
39. Cayuga Heights Village Trustees Meeting: 9/15/08
40. "Man dies 3 weeks after deer gores him," San Diego Union Tribune, 10/20/05
41. "Man dies 3 weeks after deer gores him," San Diego Union Tribune, 10/20/05
42. Cayuga Heights Village Trustees Meeting: 9/30/08
43. Click here to see the statement that was removed from the Cayuga Heights web site shortly after CayugaDeer.org was
      launched
44. Cayuga Heights Village Trustees Meeting: 9/15/08
45. Cayuga Heights Village Trustees Meeting: 9/15/08
46. DRAC meeting: 11/6/08
47. Deer Remediation Committee statement, Village of Cayuga Heights web site
48. NY State Dept. of Health: 2004-2006 Bureau of Communicable Disease Control Data as of July, 2008
49. New England Journal of Medicine: How Can We Prevent Lyme Disease?
50. DRAC meeting: 9/30/08
51. Per representatives of Cornell Companion Animal Hospital and private vet hospital, November, 2008
52. Cayuga Heights Village Trustees Meeting: 9/15/08
53. DRAC meeting: 9/30/08