As sharpshooters continue their deer-culling operation, animal rights advocates voice their objections to the Township Committee.
By: David Weinstein
Professional sharpshooters this weekend continued to kill deer on private Princeton Township properties, including the Institute for Advanced Study off Olden Lane, bringing to 203 the number killed in accordance with a state-approved deer management program that began Feb. 17.
And as Princeton Township Committee members prepared for their final February meeting Monday night, about 60 animal rights advocates held a candlelight vigil outside the Valley Road Building where the meetings are held. They blasted the committee for what they continue to claim is an ethically corrupt public policy.
"The township has misled us all about what has been explored" as a substitute for killing the deer, said Nancy Bowman, a member of the Mercer County Deer Alliance, prior to the demonstration.
Township resident Virginia Iaconu, standing in front of the municipal complex with a candle, said, "We could learn to live with other creatures because that is the way God wished it to be."
Shooting so far has taken place on eight evenings, including Monday night, though the number of deer taken the evening of the protest was not available.
"It seems as though they’re stealing the innocence of the deer. I don’t like that," said Kristina Johnson, a township resident who attended the vigil Monday night.
Meanwhile, no money has changed hands between township residents and two companies Princeton’s Caliper Management Inc., and Hunterdon County-based Sort.org. Both companies have offered $1,000 rewards to landowners who withdraw the permission they had granted to sharpshooters to shoot deer on their land.
"Unfortunately, there have been none yet," said Ray Pavalski of Sort.org on Monday afternoon, referring to responses to the company’s offer. "We’re ready, waiting and willing,"
Caliper CEO Herb Greenberg said Monday that another Princeton Township resident is offering an additional $1,000 to any landowner who withdraws an earlier offer to White Buffalo, the Connecticut firm hired to kill the deer, making the total $3,000. Mr. Greenberg declined to disclose her name.
Following the vigil, approximately half the protesters filed into the meeting room, and about 10 spoke during the public portion of the session.
Mr. Greenberg and local businesswoman Eleanor Simanski a self-described "problem-solver" offered to form a task force to find different ways to control the deer population.
"I don’t understand the desperation," Mr. Greenberg said, noting that there had been no referendum to determine how the public feels about the deer-culling program.
"Call a truce," Ms. Simanski said.
Mayor Phyllis Marchand declined to halt the sharpshooters to allow the task force to search for options, but said the township is always willing to work with citizens.
"I applaud you for looking at this from a different perspective, but we can’t, nor would we want, to stop the program that has the benefit of the community" as its goal, the mayor said.
Some of the objectors, who brought their signs into the meeting room interrupted the mayor during her responses.
Princeton Township Attorney Edwin Schmierer said the sharpshooters are expected to continue their work throughout the week, weather permitting.
Delaware Township in Hunterdon County was expected to begin its deer management program Monday, using federal sharpshooters from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a spokeswoman in the township clerk’s office said Monday.
Currently, sharpshooters in Princeton Township are shooting on private land only.
Mayor Machand said at the meeting that White Buffalo is expected to begin shooting deer on public land Friday night. Possible sites include the Mountain Lakes Nature Reserve and Barbara Smoyer Memorial Park.
Through litigation and protest, the Mercer County Deer Alliance and others have pushed for nonlethal alternatives as the appropriate means to end complaints and problems associated with the township’s deer herd. But the lethal management program continues, having been declared legal by the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Estimates by the state Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife the same agency that issued the township’s permit to hire sharpshooters place the population of the township herd at over 1,600.
Three sharpshooters killed eight deer Thursday, 26 deer Friday and 12 more Saturday evening, according to division biologist Susan Martka on Monday morning. Except for the Institute, the shooting occurred on unidentified private sites throughout the township.
Mr. Schmierer said last weekthat 26 private sites are available for shooting use by White Buffalo, which is to be paid up to $90,000 for the program. The effort is expected to continue until March 31, when the township’s state-issued permit expires.
"We will continue to speak out when we feel injustice has been served. I’ll be here again," said Frank Wiener, a township resident and Mercer County Deer Alliance member, during the committee meeting.