By: David Weinstein
Citing a conflict of interest at the state level, tunnel vision at the local level and misinformation from powerful sources as reasons a deer hunt is likely in Princeton Township, the Mercer County Deer Alliance has called for a drastic change they said could redirect Princeton Township’s path toward the "draconian sniper program" it has been following for 15 years.
There are no accurate numbers, the alliance said, enumerating the township’s deer herd – only random guesses. It is these estimates that are the driving force behind the possible hunt.
The alliance stressed its support for nonlethal management, such as contraceptives.
While township estimates have the herd at 1,300 to 1,500, the alliance questions those numbers. It says it does not have an estimate, only that in the 1970s, when deer and car accidents became first publicized, the township estimated the population to be about the same as it now does.
"Now we’re told that number is too many," said Karen Cotton, a township resident and alliance member. "What happens is that people come up with numbers and treat them as real. The truth is, nobody knows how large the township deer herd is."
Furthermore, she said, the news that Montgomery Township Committeewoman Ali Henkel planned to initiate discussions this week that could put her municipality on the same path as Princeton Township is frustrating.
The alliance has not made plans to respond to the implementation of any township program, Ms. Cotton said, but the group will meet in a few days and that meeting will go a long way toward determining future actions. The alliance, working in conjunction with the League of Animal Protection Voters, is a local group that has for more than five years tried to influence public policy, Ms. Cotton said.
Princeton Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand disputed the alliance’s claims that the township has not tried different options to thin the herd.
In that effort, she said, the township has posted signs warning of high-volume deer areas, reduced some speed limits to the lowest speed allowed by law and tried to educate citizens about plantings deer will not eat and the disadvantages of feeding deer.
She said the township has for years been open-minded in its approach toward developing a plan, and is willing to be a test area for contraceptives not yet proven effective. And, she said, if the township decides to go with sharpshooters, that method will be integrated with others.
Deer have been a problem in Princeton Township for 15 years, she said, and now is the time to act.
"I can’t believe I am here advocating a sharpshoot," Mayor Marchand said. "However, this is the most humane way and effective way."
The alliance’s press conference Monday was meant to highlight the group’s reasoning and showcase the dynamic issues involved while raising community awareness, Ms. Cotton said.
"It’s a paradox for a community so educated and affluent to go after such violence," Ms. Cotton said.
"It’s very sad this happening," Ms. Cotton said, explaining why the alliance believes a hunt will only lead to a greater deer population than it has today.
"It would only exacerbate the problem," she said. "There will be more deer next year" because research shows, Ms. Cotton said, that sexual activity greatly increases when a large number of the herd has been culled.
She said township elected officials are not willing to delve into the complex dynamics of solving this problem and only want a quick fix.
"People are desperate for something to happen. But they’ll find out this hunt won’t work. This hunt isn’t going to solve the problem," she said.
Ms. Cotton, a former member of the township’s advisory committee on deer, said because the state Fish and Game Council is responsible for both promoting and regulating hunting in the state, it has a conflict of interest.
The council, which has final say on municipal applications to institute a local, lethal or nonlethal deer-management program, is pro-hunt, Ms. Cotton said.
"We feel Fish and Game has been turned to solve a problem they themselves created," she said.
Additionally, she said, at the township level, the same people who have for 15 years been leading the charge against the deer population have had only one agenda: to kill more deer.
Other, nonlethal strategies are the only humane way to thin a herd, she said.
"We have an ethical responsibility to these animals," she said.
"And in our society, we have acknowledged this with anticruelty laws. But they don’t apply here because a deer is a game animal. Deer have been treated as an agricultural product. This is a fundamental, moral issue that has not been addressed," Ms. Cotton said.
While acknowledging that the number of motor-vehicle accidents involving deer has gone up, Ms. Cotton said that is the result of vehicular traffic doubling in the last 20 years.
"As the number of accidents go up, it’s inferred the deer population has risen too," she said, adding that such a correlation should not be made.
The Mercer County Deer Alliance, Ms. Cotton said, has been active on this issue since the early 1990s, attempting to influence public policy and injecting other points of view into public discussions.
"What the township is trying to force on us is the idea that there should only be a certain number of deer per square mile," Ms. Cotton said.
"That’s absurd. Each square mile has the potential to provide for different amounts of deer, so each square mile is different. Animals are not distributed like people. It seems these complex issues are beyond the capacity of elected officials to deal with. It’s not a quick and easy problem. We shouldn’t treat it as such."
