Deer Culling Has Long, Controversial History in Solon

For Wayne Godzich, the most difficult issue he dealt with in 42 years of police work was not murder or mayhem, but something they don't cover at the academy: deer culling.

"Certain residents were upset we were culling at all, others that we were not culling enough," said Godzich, Solon's former police chief.

Over the last few years, the debate over how to manage Solon's deer herd has been one of the city's most contentious – involving protests, lawsuits and fierce debates.

The latest is the city council's consideration of a pilot program designed to study the effectiveness of crossbow-only deer culling. Council will vote tonight on whether to approve this program, which would run until Feb. 5, when hunting season closes.

The purpose, said Public Works Commissioner James Stanek, is to gather data on the effectiveness of crossbow hunting as a way to help manage the deer population.

But it's unclear if the city council is willing to go along with the pilot program on such short notice.

Ward 7 Councilman William Russo supports moving forward to gather more information on the matter.

But three other councilmen have questions or concerns about the program. Vice Mayor and Ward 6 Councilman Edward Kraus said he is concerned about the safety of crossbow hunting, and appears unlikely right now to support the program.

Two other council members – including Ward 1 Councilman Richard Bell and Ward 2 Councilman Robert Pelunis – said they have questions that still need answering.

Pelunis said he believes the issue is being pushed too quickly.

"It seems like we are kind of rushing into making a decision," Pelunis said."I really don’t want to rush on an issue like this and put together a pilot program so quickly without making sure we have every single safety interest intact."

Ward 4 Councilman William Mooney said he just returned from vacation and needs to gather information before coming to his decision. Solon Patch is still waiting to hear from Ward 3 Councilwoman Toni Richmond.

The History

At its most basic, officials say deer management is a safety issue. Between 1994 and 2009, city officials have recorded 1,781 car accidents involving deer, an average of 111 each year.

The car-versus-deer accidents peaked in 2003 and 2004, with 340 crashes involving the animals. 

That large number led to the city hiring White Buffalo Inc., a Connecticut company that brought in professional sharpshooters to kill hundreds of deer each year, for a cost of about $400 per deer.

The deer meat was processed and donated to hunger shelters around the area.

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

The issue reached a boiling point in January 2006, when Solon police arrested resident Belinda Geiger, who was against the deer culling, and accused her of menacing, stalking and threatening White Buffalo President Anthony DeNicola, according to a Solon Herald Sun article from 2008.

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.

Culled from the Budget

Stanek said that sharpshooting is the most effective way to cull deer. 

During the program's five years, White Buffalo killed more than 1,000 deer for the city, cutting the herd from more than 900 in 2004 to about 450 in 2009.

The number of deer-car accidents also declined from 165 in 2004 to 45 in 2009. 

But the city decided to cancel the program in 2009 because of budget reasons.

While ending the program saved the city money, the deer herd rebounded. City officials counted nearly 700 deer in 2010 and expect there to be more than 1,000 by the end of this year – even more than before the sharpshooting program began.

As a result, city officials expect about 100 deer-car accidents this year, a nearly 50 percent increase over 2010.

The crossbow program is a sort of middle-ground experiment: It won't cost the city any money and may help reduce the deer population enough to be worth the time and energy, Stanek said.

But what the program can't be is the one-stop solution to deer management, Stanek told the city council's safety committee last week. Instead, it would be one part of a comprehensive strategy involving both lethal and non-lethal means.

The Pilot Program

Stanek said the crossbow pilot program will be one of the safest and most highly regulated deer management programs, only involving 6 to 10 trained hunters who remain stationary in isolated areas.

According to the draft guidelines, the hunters must be Solon residents or an employee of the city. They will be required to pass the state's hunter education safety course, a background check and pass a skills test with the crossbow.

Hunters will be required to pay a $25 application fee and a $250 security bond that will be returned to the hunter so long as all rules and regulations of the program are followed.

Other safety steps include requiring hunters to label their arrows with their name and address. The sites selected for the program – likely in Grantwood Park – will be larger than 5 acres, and won't be near schools. Hunting will only occur from elevated stands, and hunters aren't allowed to move them without the permission of the city.

But opponents say that bow hunting is problematic – they say that a wounded deer could run into the road or into a back yard, where children may be forced to watch it die. They worry that crossbow bolts will be left behind in the woods and cause dangerous situations.

These concerns were also voiced by Godzich and the new police chief, Christopher Viland, but both men said they believe a pilot program could be run successfully to study how safe and effective bow hunting could be

But some residents and animal rights groups disagree, saying that bow hunting provides dangers that nonlethal methods – including Strieter Lites, a system that can keep deer from crossing the road until cars have passed.

"They are supposed to be protecting their citizens, and these lights will do that," said Lane Ferrante, director of the Ohio chapter of the League of Humane Voters. "They should not be discharging deadly weapons in the community." 

But Stanek said this pilot program, if approved, would be safe and highly regulated.

"The culling effort is secondary to the safety effort," he said.

And city officials said they will explore nonlethal ways to manage deer, and that any future program will involve a comprehensive effort to control the population.

Not Going Away

Whether or not the program is approved tonight, the deer management issue is not going away.

City officials and council members agree that crossbow hunting, even if approved, is not the single answer. Russo said that the program may only be able to handle the "easy deer" on the outskirts of town, while other methods may be required to manage deer in the town's interiors.

"The only reason to consider the pilot program is to see if it can be included in a comprehensive plan," Russo said.

Russo, who chairs the safety committee, has asked Stanek to provide a comprehensive deer management program to the committee by May 1. That program will likely involve both lethal and nonlethal ways of dealing with deer.

"It's a safety issue," said Kraus, who despite his opposition so far to the crossbow program said he recognizes the need to manage the deer. "It's a safety issue for our residents, who are driving on our roads and it's a safety issue for the deer, who are being killed on our roads."