Deer birth-control plan causes scrap

Princeton Township claims opponents of cull continue to feed deer, disrupting contraception program.

By: David Campbell
   Despite charges to the contrary, the attorney for foes of Princeton Township’s lethal deer-management program says his clients are willing to cooperate with a pilot birth-control program in the southeast corner of the municipality, where culling is not possible due to residential density.
   "The deer people have been lobbying in favor of immunocontraceptive for a couple of years," said Falk Engel of his clients. "The last thing they would try to do is sabotage an immunocontraceptive program."
   But according to township officials and Anthony DeNicola of White Buffalo, the Connecticut firm the township hired to undertake the program in conjunction with a third year of culling with rifles and a second year of captive bolting, that’s exactly what two of his clients have done.
   "I’m still at a loss as to why they’re undermining our research area," Mr. DeNicola said of Tamara Gund of Roper Road and Susan Ferry of Hemlock Circle.
   According to Mr. DeNicola, plans to begin the program in which up to 75 female deer will be immunized in the next two years are "in limbo" because Ms. Gund and Ms. Ferry persist in feeding deer on their properties, thus luring the animals away from his bait sites.
   Neither Ms. Gund nor Ms. Ferry was available for comment.
   Township Attorney Edwin Schmierer said the township has reached out to both residents through their attorneys, asking them to participate in the pilot birth-control program.
   If they do not cease and desist, Mr. Schmierer said, township summonses could be issued under a no-feed ordinance upheld in December by Superior Court Judge Linda Feinberg.
   "They have been after us for three years now advocating an alternative way to remove the deer and control our deer population," the township attorney said. "We have listened to that and are setting up the program in their neighborhood, so we do hope they will participate and cooperate in our program."
   Mr. Schmierer continued, "If they do not and they continue to feed the animals, then we will gather the information and we will issue summonses and they will be vigorously prosecuted under the ordinance which was upheld by Judge Feinberg — but we hope that they will cooperate."
   According to Princeton Animal Control Officer Mark Johnson, both residents are "definitely interfering" with their deer feeding.
   "The quantity of the deer coming to these two people’s properties is what’s really going to hurt us," Mr. Johnson said.
   Based on his own observations, up to 17 deer at a time have gathered on Ms. Ferry’s property at a large tub like a "large dog-food bowl full of grain," the animal control officer said.
   On Thursday, as the township mulled issuing a summons, Ms. Ferry agreed to participate in the immunocontraceptive program, Mr. Johnson said.
   Mr. Engel said Ms. Ferry expressed a willingness to open her property for use in the birth-control program, but said she was told by the township that her property was not needed.
   According to the attorney, claims of non-cooperation with the birth-control program by the township are "malicious nonsense" that is part of an "orchestrated campaign against opponents of Princeton township’s deer plan."
   Mr. Engel said that neither resident is illegally feeding deer. However, he said, both do have bird feeders and ground-level poultry feeders for feeding wild turkeys, which he said deer cannot access — feeders, he said, that are perfectly legal under the ordinance the township fought to defend in court.
   In addition, Mr. Engel said, attempts by township officials to contact his clients about the feeding and the birth-control program have been limited.
   Mr. DeNicola called Ms. Gund twice and was instructed to call her lawyers, which he didn’t do, Mr. Engel said. The only attempt by the township to contact Ms. Ferry, the attorney continued, was when Mr. Johnson appeared in her back yard with a video camera and, when confronted, asked her to cooperate with the immunocontraceptive program.
   "They know how to reach us when they have legal matters," Mr. Engel said. "We’re willing to talk. Why bad-mouth these people and stalk them with video cameras?"
   Mr. Engel added that an appeal was filed Thursday in the Appellate Division challenging Judge Feinberg’s ruling on the no-feed ordinance.
   The township hoped to begin culling deer Thursday night, Mr. Johnson said.
   The state Division of Fish and Wildlife issued its permit for the cull and the pilot immunocontraceptive program Tuesday, but Mr. Johnson said the cull could not begin until unspecified details with the permit were worked out.
   On Saturday, the state Fish and Game Council approved the township’s revised deer-management plan by a 7-2 vote, reversing its 5-4 vote of Jan. 16 to reject the township’s proposal to undertake a third year of culling with rifles and captive bolting in conjunction with the experimental birth-control program.
   In response to the unexpected rejection of its plan last month, the township resubmitted its core proposal with added concessions to sports hunters in a bid to sway members originally opposed to the plan.
   Under the township’s revised proposal, the municipality agrees not to conduct culling on private lands under contract with hunting clubs, and to work with the division to study the possibility of opening some public lands to sport hunting in time for the 2003-2004 hunting season.
   The Humane Society of the United States is expected to observe White Buffalo’s captive-bolting and immunocontraceptive procedures sometime next week, Mr. DeNicola said.
   Township officials have said their deer-management program is a safe and humane means to reduce deer-car collisions, the spread of Lyme disease and damage to gardens and the ecosystem caused by deer overpopulation.
   Foes claim the lethal program violates state animal-cruelty laws and that the use of high-powered rifles in the township poses a hazard to residents.
   The township’s goal is a herd of about 320 deer, compared to an estimated herd of 1,600 before the start of the cull in 2001.
   Last winter, White Buffalo killed 303 deer with sharpshooting and captive bolting. In 2001, White Buffalo sharpshooters killed 322 deer.