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

Deer Birth Control Could Prevent Collisions

white-tailed deer fawn

…A birth control injection for deer puts them completely out of the mood to mate for up to five years without a booster. GonaCon, as the birth control is called, even eliminates dangerous and destructive courtship behaviors responsible for the autumn increase in collisions between cars and deer…

…The vaccine causes deer to produce antibodies that destroy the GnRH before it can ever trigger the sex hormones. USDA studies on white-tailed deer, free-ranging California ground squirrels, captive Norway rats, domestic and feral swine and wild horses have shown GonaCon to be effective in a wide range of animals.

The birth control vaccine could even be useful for pets and domesticated animals that have not been spayed or neutered. In cats, for example, scent-spraying, fighting, wandering, and caterwauling could be controlled…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

Teen handcuffed Sam Mazzola to waterbed, sheriff’s officials say

A 17-year-old boy chained and handcuffed Sam Mazzola to the waterbed where the same teen found Mazzola dead on Sunday morning, Lorain County sheriff’s Sgt. Donald Barker said Thursday…more

Owner of Ohio bear that killed caretaker dies during sexual role-playing

Sam Mazzola, 49, was found last week face down on his water bed, wearing a mask and with his arms and legs restrained, said Dr. Frank P. Miller III, a pathologist at the Lorain County coroner's office...more

Authorities want to know who was at Sam Mazzola's home in the hours before he died

Lorain County Sheriff's deputies are still trying to determine who was at Sam Mazzola's North Marks Road compound in the hours before and after he died...more

Exotic animal owner Sam Mazzola died bound in his home during an apparent sex act gone wrong, coroner says

Exotic-animal owner Sam Mazzola was found dead in his Columbia Station home Sunday, "bound to the bed with handcuffs, chains and padlocks," said Lorain County Deputy Coroner Frank Miller...more

Sam Mazzola was found handcuffed to bed, coroner says

Controversial exotic animal owner Sam Mazzola, who was found dead Sunday at his North Marks Road compound, died of asphyxia due to an airway obstruction, Deputy Lorain County Coroner Frank Miller said Monday...more

Future of Exotic Animal Farm Unknown after Death of Owner

But some residents in the northwest section of town are hoping the death of their owner, Sam Mazzola, will mean the animals will move on. "I'm sorry to hear the owner has died, but I hope to stop worrying about my kids being mauled by a wandering lion...more

Bear-Owner Mazzola Found Deceased

Mazzola had been criticized for staging wrestling exhibits between bears and humans for a number of years. Eventually his license to exhibit animals was revoked by the USDA, but he was allowed to continue keeping animals...more

Sheriff: Bear Owner Sam Mazzola Found Dead

The Lorain County Sheriff's Office confirms that Sam Mazzola, the exotic animal owner whose bear fatally mauled a caretaker last year, was found dead in his home Sunday afternoon...see video

Mazzola found dead at Columbia Township home

Controversial exotic animal owner Sam Mazzola was found dead in bed this morning by an employee...more

Will Solon Use White Buffalo Again for Deer Sharpshooting?

…White Buffalo is a lightning rod for anti-hunting activists…

Solon's original White Buffalo contract angered animal rights groups and residents against lethal deer culling, who argued that there are more humane ways to manage the deer population. They protested at meetings and came out in force to fight the decision.

In January 2006, Solon resident Belinda Geiger was arrested and accused with menacing, stalking and threatening DeNicola.

The criminal case against Geiger was dismissed in 2007, but Geiger also sued the city and DeNicola. That lawsuit was settled in 2008 with the city and White Buffalo paying Geiger $12,500 each, according to the newspaper…more