In its seventh year, 126 deer were killed
By: Courtney Gross
Princeton Township has concluded the seventh year of its lethal deer management program, which is intended to further reduce motor-vehicle accidents attributed to the animals and the environmental effects of overpopulation in general.
According to Animal Control Officer Mark Johnson, White Buffalo Inc., the Connecticut-based contractor for the deer culling program, concluded its work on Thursday by meeting its goal for the year. White Buffalo ended the season with 126 deer killed, nine of which were euthanized through the controversial net and bolt procedure.
The state’s Fish and Game Council approved the program in February. It includes sharpshooting, the net and bolt method and a birth control program.
The deer management program’s goal is to cull the deer population to 20 animals per square mile.
The township also contracts with the United Bowhunters of New Jersey. It’s members killed five deer in the month of February. The United Bowhunters members hunt using traditional methods on several township properties including Woodfield Reservation, Fieldwood Preserve, Puritan Court and Autumn Hill Preserve at no cost to the township.
White Buffalo’s contract with the township for 2007 approved by the Township Committee in December was for $53,030 for the lethal program and $43,600 for the fertility-control methods, totaling $96,630.
When the deer management effort was first proposed in 2000, Mr. Johnson said, the township had nearly 350 motor-vehicle accidents caused by deer annually. Since the program started, that number has steadily decreased to 94 in 2006, Mr. Johnson said.
In 2005, 100 motor-vehicle accidents were attributed to deer.
"I feel it was successful," Mr. Johnson said of the program.
But, he added, the program’s challenges have changed over the years as the animals become less prevalent in Princeton.
"There is less deer out there and it’s more time-consuming to get the numbers they need to cull to keep the herd stabilized," Mr. Johnson noted.
The fertility-control program, in its fourth year and conducted with Rutgers University and the Humane Society, has been relatively successful, Mr. Johnson said. One year, he recalled, the program administered a "bad batch" of the fertility booster shots to several doe.
Of the 15 doe initially fertilized, Mr. Johnson said four have had fawns.
By May, Mr. Johnson added, the township will know the success of this year’s nonlethal program.
Although the deer management program is successful at reducing motor vehicle accidents, it drew large opposition and litigation from animal rights groups when first proposed.
The net and bolt procedure, which raised the most opposition, is initiated in areas deemed too residential for sharpshooting. The deer are captured and then shot with a captive bolt gun similar to the instruments used at some slaughter houses.
The township had been the only municipality in the state to have such a program until Millburn approved it this year. Millburn’s program has since been met with considerable opposition because of the program’s alleged cruelty and inhumane treatment of deer.

