Buck Shot

… Solon employed professional sharpshooters for four years to thin its herds. It was costly at $345 to $570 per deer…

…An initiative headed for the town's ballot this November, organized by a vocal national activist group*, calls for a total repeal of Solon's culling ordinance…

…The Metroparks spent nearly half a million dollars over five years experimenting with a contraceptive vaccine but concluded it was not effective enough and it was difficult to deliver to free-ranging herds in large numbers.

Nonsense, says Lane Ferrante, Ohio state director of the League of Humane Voters. Her organization is largely responsible for this November's "Solon Deer Preservation Act" — the ballot initiative against lethal deer culling in Solon — and an initiative that repealed Broadview Heights' culling ordinance last year. She thinks Ohio should pursue deer birth-control methods and calls Cleveland Metroparks' concern about over-browsed vegetation threatening other wildlife habitats "a bunch of propaganda."

Ferrante doesn't believe there's an overpopulation problem. At the same time, she insists that deer culling results in a "rebound effect" that actually increases herd sizes…

…"Urban hunting is about backroom deals between hunters and the Department of Wildlife aided by legislators," says Ferrante…

…Ferrante's group was Broadview Heights Mayor Samuel Alai's worst nightmare…

…"They ran a great campaign; I'll hand it to them," Alai says…more

* Note: The League of Humane Voters of Ohio is a chapter of a national registered nonprofit 527 political action committee, not an “activist group.”  Membership is open to animal lovers and currently free for Ohio residents.  Click here to join!

Contract: Solon Could Pay USDA $128,000 to Cull 400 to 500 Deer

Solon deer, courtesy Chris Mazzolini/Solon Patch

Solon City Council approved a contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wednesday to have the federal agency run the city's deer culling program…

… That will include killing about 400 to 500 white-tailed deer, said Solon Public Works Commissioner Jim Stanek.

According to the contract, USDA sharpshooters will remove white-tailed deer from Solon using rifles with silencers in pre-approved shooting locations…more

Suburbia’s Deer Problem

photo courtesy WCPN, 
NPR Cleveland, The Sound of Ideas

…The debate over how to cull the herd rages on, with the city of Solon now a focal point as the city again turns to hunting while residents go to the ballot to outlaw it…more

Upcoming Vote on Deer Hunting Looms Over Solon's Deer Plans

Ward 2 Councilman Bob Pelunis said the city spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on sharpshooting earlier this decade, only to stop the program and have the deer problem become as bad if not worse than it was before.

"What do we really

have to show for that money?" he said.

"We keep coming back to the same position”

…more