Regional Solution, Or Another Division Of Wild"Death" Loophole To Kill More Deer, Lie To The Public, And Keep The Profits?

Is this too many deer for you? How many is too much, or not enough? Do you really know?

As of the July 6, 2015 Seven Hills council/caucus meetings, it was decided that bow hunting would not be put on the Seven Hills ballot. 

But it’s not over for Seven Hills, Parma, Parma Heights, Broadview Heights (where the mayor is a hunter), Independence (where the mayor's brother is a hunter and nuisance permit holder, and where the ordinance passed with no public input but a couple of council members for hunting, a Division of Wildlife official, and one resident known for bagging lots of deer), and Strongsville. 

The “New Solution.” A semi-regional plan is underway this summer by the Cuyahoga County Mayors and City Managers Association — presided over by Independence Mayor Kurtz who should be recused due to bias, as should Broadview Heights Mayor Alai who is a hunter, and who wanted to revisit a bow hunting ordinance there after voters already repealed it — to make the Ohio Division of Wild”Death” (ODOW) come up with both lethal and non-lethal “solutions.” 

It’s Not a Safety Issue: My recent analysis of deer-vehicle collisions (DVCs) in North Royalton spanning March 2013 to July 2015, from an Open Public Records request there found a slight decrease in DVCs, consistent with a decline from a previous six-year analysis. Out of 28 months and 218 reports — many avoidable, had adequate hot spot technology been implemented there after being discussed and refused in January 2013, or erroneous/bogus reports or otherwise questionable — there was one very minor human injury for which the driver did not want medical attention. No vehicles had major damage, and most vehicles had either no damage or very minor vehicle damage. Nationwide, approximately 2 to 3 million deer die annually from DVCs; about 200 people do. You are more likely to hit the jackpot super lotto. 

Seven Hills has far fewer reported DVCs. Independence’s reduction in DVCs is directly and demonstrably correlative with the installation of that city’s I-77 tall sound barriers, where previously, most of the reported DVCs occurred, according to our public records check there. The pro-hunting advocates in Independence like to claim it’s because of the bow hunting, but since the majority of DVCs occurred on or very near the I-77 corridor, and then dramatically decreased after the barriers were erected, hunting, a lethal method with proven rebounding populations, cannot be the cause of that community’s reduction in DVCs. North Royalton has an average of 10 mph higher speed limits, making hot spot technology the preferred recommendation. Strongsville, with its I-71 entrance ramps and other hot spots, would also benefit from effective roadway deterrents. 

What’s really going on. Because rebound of population is a well-documented fact even the Division of Wild”Death” does not deny, even for short-sighted gardeners who want deer killed, and now, this is akin to having a broken left ankle, deliberately shooting one's self in the right foot, and then attempting to drive one's self to the emergency room to get the left sprained ankle treated. 

That is because, as long as the ODOW is involved, the "compromise" means killing for profit, and rebound.

Although it is true that the ODOW admits to deliberately maintaining a high number of live targets for profit and to satisfy the six percent who hunt, and that ODOW effectively “owns” the deer, which is the basis of the Association’s argument, we should not allow the Association's members to effectively and indirectly allow lethal methods by shifting the responsibility to the ODOW, who they know will find some way to kill or maim the deer; it's just a loophole, very crafty, very lawyerly, very political.

What the Association Should be Doing Instead. The Association should demand only non-lethal, non-invasive controls and/or working with proven, effective biological carrying capacity concepts. Also proven and effective are Strieter Lites and DeerDeter technologies in PROVEN and DOCUMENTED hot spots. Profit-driven ODOW wants more, not fewer deer, which is why they won’t allow birth control, but PZP immuno-contraception is safe, affordable, and effective. PZP is a protein, not a hormone, so the ODOW cannot lie to the public and claim the herd will be “tainted” with hormones. PZP’s efficacy boasts 90% the first year, 70% second year, and 50 third year. Since deer live an average of seven years, this can, has, and will reduce numbers very significantly. 

But even without the asinine ODOW’s authorization to begin birth control, we should at least be talking about roadway technologies and hot spots. It’s also possible, with new landscape and gardening techniques, to more affordably and less labor intensively work with nature to allow for even larger herd sizes and more browsing with less loss! 

I think the ODOW is scared now, because people are increasingly hip to the facts. Pennsylvania's previous game commissioner resigned a few years back because the rest of that also-mired-in-good-ol-boys-hunt-club board of directors, like Ohio’s, refused to work with him on non-lethal solutions. But ODOW’s Zehringer keeps, er, passing the buck.