Princeton Township approves another round of deer culling

Application still needs state endorsement

By: Courtney Gross
   To control motor-vehicle collisions related to deer and to reduce their impact on the environment, the Princeton Township Committee approved an application Monday evening to participate in a deer-management control program for the seventh year in a row.
   Although the committee approved a contract with Connecticut-based White Buffalo Inc. in September to cull the deer herd, the program is subject to approval by the state Division of Fish and Wildlife and the New Jersey Fish and Game Council within the Department of Environmental Protection.
   The unanimous decision to submit an application to receive the special permit for the program is intended to bring the deer population down to the goal density of 20 deer per square mile, according to a township memo outlining the program.
   According to recent estimates, an additional 125 deer will have to be killed following the traditional hunting season.
   Part of the culling program will be conducted by White Buffalo, which initiates fertility control as well as a lethal service. According to the township’s application, White Buffalo will use silenced rifles mainly shot from elevated tree stands or from pickup trucks.
   In areas where sharp-shooting cannot take place, White Buffalo will trap deer in nets and then euthanize them with a captive bolt gun, according to the township’s application to the state.
   The contract this year appropriates a total of $96,630 for both services — $43,600 is allocated for fertility control and $53,030 for the lethal program.
   The township has used White Buffalo’s "alternative" techniques since the program’s inception in 2000, the township memo states.
   In conjunction with Rutgers University and the Humane Society, White Buffalo conducts an experimental fertility program, which began in 2002. The fertility program, limited to the southeast corner of the township, attempts to examine the effectiveness of regulating the deer population through contraceptives.
   The fertility program will be conducted for the duration of 2007, while the lethal program will conclude on March 31, if approved again by the state.
   The township, as part of its program, also contracts with the United Bowhunters of New Jersey, whose members hunt on four municipally owned properties: Woodfield Reservation, Fieldwood Preserve, Puritan Court and the Autumn Hill Reserve. The organization, which is not compensated, uses traditional bow hunting.
   According to statistics gathered by Animal Control Officer Mark Johnson, 30 deer were killed on township roadways from Jan. 1 through the end of July due to motor-vehicle accidents. Since the inception of the deer-management program in 2000, the number of vehicle collisions because of deer has declined 79 percent.
   The program has generated little controversy recently, but in its early years it was met with lawsuits, protests and outspoken opponents who said the practice was inhumane and an example of animal cruelty.