Some residents are circulating a petition to stop the hunt that includes fawns.
By: Linda Seida
SOLEBURY Sharpshooters will return in several weeks to pick up where they recently left off, culling the deer herd with high-tech rifles and night-vision equipment.
The township’s $250,000 contract to bring in sharpshooters from the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services to thin an overpopulation of deer has outraged some residents, who call the shooting of about 100 deer including fawns "slaughter."
The shooters left last week to deal with an animal problem in another part of Pennsylvania, but they will return in several weeks, according to a Wildlife Services spokeswoman.
Wildlife Services was called to Solebury because of the amount of damage the deer are inflicting. The destruction includes vehicle accidents and crop damage suffered by farmers and nurserymen, said spokeswoman Carol Bannerman, who is based in suburban Maryland.
The recommended deer population for a suburban area is seven per square mile. In a forested area, the number rises to 24 per square mile. In Solebury, the deer population is estimated at 142 per square mile, according to Ms. Bannerman.
Many communities attempt to control their deer populations through conventional hunting methods. Other methods, including contraception, are employed for a long-term solution.
But the problem in Solebury is too widespread, and the damage is too immediate, Ms. Bannerman said.
The township’s collision rate for accidents that involve deer is two accidents every three days, according to Ms. Bannerman.
"The deer accidents are hard to avoid there," she said.
One of the shooters deployed to the township told her they drive 5 mph along the country roads to avoid a collision.
"He said it was amazing," she said.
Crop yields in the township have decreased by about 25 percent and the deer problem is seen as a significant cause of that, she said.
"In a 30-acre knee-high cornfield, every plant had the top eaten off it," Ms. Bannerman said.
On another parcel, a nursery suffered more than $100,000 in damages from buck rubbing, which is when the deer rub and scrape their antlers along tree bark.
Despite the damages, some residents say the situation was handled all wrong. First, they say, they should have been given an opportunity to comment before the contract was signed. Also, fawns shouldn’t have been included.
"It’s just absolute slaughter," said Lynn Trusdell, who has lived in the township for 46 years and operates a horse farm on Route 202.
At church, Ms. Trusdell said, she heard from a woman who spotted a doe with four fawns trailing it because their own mothers were dead.
According to the USDA, many does give birth to twins so Ms. Trusdell suspected two of three of the fawns "adopted" the doe.
"It’s pathetic," Ms. Trusdell said.
She said her fellow residents are "up in arms" and intend to gather signatures on a petition to halt the hunt.
"We are the minority that wasn’t informed," she said. "But once we were informed, we are the majority against it."
She said anyone interested in signing the petition could call (215) 794-7972.
Sue Kroupa, chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors, said "absolutely" residents were informed.
"None of us really wanted to do this," she said Tuesday.
The driving force behind the decision was the "health, safety and welfare" of residents, she said, adding, "This was the only way."
Ms. Kroupa said public meetings on the proposal to bring in the USDA were "absolutely" held, and she does not understand why people are saying the deal was not discussed publicly.
Ms. Kroupa said it was discussed publicly for at least two years, including one meeting when the state director of the USDA was present.
"We started talking about this in 2005," she said.
As part of the contract with the USDA, a biologist will work in the township full time for a year to oversee the deer problem. Responsibilities will include overseeing "measurable goals and objectives," Ms. Kroupa said.
Also, the biologist will work with residents, talking to them in an effort to convince them to allow sports hunting on their properties.
"Property owners are reluctant to do so," Ms. Kroupa said.
None of the meat from the recent shoot was wasted. Refrigerated trucks were kept in the township to preserve the meat, which was then distributed to food banks.
"The food banks are thrilled," Ms. Kroupa said. "It’s feeding a lot of hungry people."
Ms. Bannerman said last year, in another Pennsylvania community, Mount Lebanon, Wildlife Services sharpshooters were brought in, and it was an "extremely open process," she said, adding "Information was shared. I know that sometimes it can be a very volatile situation."
In Mount Lebanon, the shoot was conducted in the winter. A shoot in Minnesota, in response to a situation where deer had contracted bovine tuberculosis, also was conducted in the winter.
Ms. Bannerman said she was not aware of notification from the township to stop shooting fawns as some residents have demanded. But by the time the shooters return, the fawns should be old enough to have become entirely vegetarian and not dependent on their mothers, she said.
The hunt was halted last week because the shooters were called away to deal with a Canada geese problem in another part of the state, Ms. Bannerman said. There is a three-week period when the geese molt and cannot fly, making them easier to kill.
"The geese end up as dinner," Ms. Bannerman said.
Wildlife Services has been hired in other parts of the country for services similar to those it is providing to Solebury. In one instance, a deer herd became trapped in a "government facility" that was heavily fenced after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, Ms. Bannerman said. The shooters were brought in because the deer were trapped and starving to death.
The decision to include fawns in the Solebury hunt was made for humane reasons, according to Ms. Bannerman. If they are not shot along with their mothers, they are left to starvation or predators.
"It’s more humane to take the fawns as well," she said.
In addition, the fawns start supplementing mother’s milk with vegetation by the age of 3 weeks.
"They’re already contributing to the problem" by the time they are weaned at 5 or 6 weeks of age, she said.

