Killing to start Jan 23

USDA Wildlife Services is to start killing Jan 23rd at the following kill sites.

Solon Kill Sites

Red areas are kill zones, orange areas are open city or adjoining lands that can be hunted from.


This list was obtained from an Open Records Request, but it is much shorter than prior culling kill site lists.  If you become aware of a kill site not on this list please inform us immediately by email to SolonDeer at gmail.com.

Be aware that the city aggressively acts to prevent citizens from observing, filming, or interfering in culling activity in any way.  Being anywhere near a kill site can be dangerous to your safety and can result in arrest on a variety of charges.

Stanek who has led this plan has abruptly retired, his former asst who also retired is expected to be brought back to manage the plan. See discussion here, Solon Patch coverage and Solon Sun coverage.

NOTE: Kill Site List last revised 1/17/12, First Draft Kill Site Map revised 2/04/12.


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It's official, killing delayed

At the Aug 15th Council Meeting we heard Public Works Commissioner Jim Stanek say he could have a pilot bow hunting program in place by Sept 24th, the start of deer hunting season.

In a private conversation before the Safety and Public Properties meeting, Stanek indicated that the city would NOT move forward with any killing before the election.

At the end of the Safety meeting Chairman Russo talked about Deer Mgt, which was not on the agenda. He wanted to correct some "falsehoods" (interesting word, seems he got that from SolonDeer.com); He then said there would be "No culling before the election". He was interrupted and asked for clarification on hunting vs killing by any means, including a pilot program, he responded that there would be "no hunting, no bow hunting, no culling" before the election.

So it's OFFICIAL on the record, the city will not kill before the election. They've heard the public, make sure they hear you again on Nov 8th by voting YES on Issue 94.

For more details see the meeting on video here at 7:19 pm 1 hr 29 min 26 sec to the end of the meeting

It has been Russo's habit to use his position on council to discredit those who disagree with him.  He brought up the following points:

• DVA accidents since culling stopped
  Police chief said he had no new data since May at which time he thought they increased significantly, but had no exact figures
• Choosing properties
  is done on a volunteer basis, but must meet certain criteria
• Safety protocols in place
  A dedicated police officer to make sure no one enters a culling zone (they'd be trespassing)
• Hunting or Wandering
  No one will be roaming the city with deadly weapons
• Scaring the public
  by saying people are roaming the city with deadly weapons is a "falsehood"
• No "culling before the election"
  taking necessary steps to move forward IF we are going to cull
• Presumptuous to assume that everyone who signed the petition is for hunting ban
  Russo knows a number of people signed it so it could be settled once and for all
• Taking steps to insure that we can take steps during THIS hunting season without another year going by

And as usual, Russo made mis-statements too.

• He tried to say DVAs are up to justify moving forward this year, yet there are no numbers available.
• In the past neighbors could "veto" a property being used, in this USDA contract, it isn't readily apparent.
• While no one will be roaming the streets with deadly weapons, if a deer isn't killed it can wander onto someone else's property and hunters may track it off the approved property.
• It isn't about guessing how many of the 1600 will vote for Deer Preservation Act, its about ALL 1600 expressing their right to DECIDE instead of city hall.
• In order to TAKE STEPS one should have data, there IS NO DEER COUNT and no current DVA count.
• Russo erroneously thought the hunting season was Jan-Feb, its actually Sept-March.  One should know these things before they decide on them.

At 7:33 1:23:40, Russo was asked to clarify the "no culling", he responded, that there would be "no culling, no crossbow, no lethal methods".

Status: Third Draft


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Inhumane Death

The following is undercover footage of the Summit County Metroparks deer slaughter where the park employees are being trained by Solon's former sharpshooter, White Buffalo, President Anthony DeNicola. After shooting the deer, plastic bags were placed over their heads as in Solon.

WARNING This video contains graphic images

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Sf2NSLhb4c

This video was shown at a public meeting at the Solon public library in Dec.'04 before the decision makers hired Mr. Denicola. Many city employees and public officials attended and did watch this video and yet they proceeded with their lethal plan.

After viewing SHARK’s video footage, all three vets declared that the deer in question was still alive minutes after being shot while a bag was pulled over her head.

If it's so humane why is it shielded from the public

Virtually all programs involving government-sponsored killing of suburban deer do not allow concerned citizens or members of the media to observe, much less document, the killing process or its aftermath. Consequently, the times, dates, and locations of the killing are not made public. Officials usually explain this as being necessary for safety reasons.

But Tim Setnicka, former Superintendent of the Channel Islands National Park, reveals a different motive. During his 30-year career with the Park Service, Setnicka supervised numerous large-scale wildlife killing programs. In 2005, he began to speak out against what he came to consider park superintendents "playing god."

"We never allowed the media to accompany the hunters to film the hunting activity. Safety reasons were always given as reasons for denial of their request. The real reason is that we wanted to avoid images of the ugliness of the hunt," admits Setnicka. "You watch the life drain out of their eye, which becomes dull as they die. This is an impossible image to sell the public or politicians, which is why no photos are allowed."

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Bow Hunting

Bow Hunting was proposed as part of the Deer Management Plan, this may seem attractive as a cheaper solution, but it has its share of problems.

Some issues are:

• Bowhunting is inhumane and wasteful.
• Bowhunters do not want to talk about the wounding issue and archery wounding is the most denied problem in bowhunting.
• Wounding and crippling losses are inevitable.
• Shot placement is, for all practical purposes, random due to the difficulty in shooting arrows accurately. There is absolutely no sure way to kill a deer instantly with a bow.
• More often than not, poorly hit deer are lost and not recovered.
• The main cause of infection in the wound is today’s multi-bladed Broadhead arrow
• Almost all abdominally shot deer die a slow death from peritonitis with the average time of death measured in agonizing days or weeks rather than in minutes or hours.
• The use of bowhunting as a method to control deer population densities is ineffective. Bowhunting is not a population control measure; it is a recreational pursuit.

Report on Bow Hunting

Source: http://www.safebackyards.com/Report%20on%20Bowhunting.pdf

See related article here where our former sharpshooter speaks against bow hunting.

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Sharpshooting

The word Sharpshooting is a misnomer. Actually, there is no sharpshooting involved, instead, it is the baiting and killing of deer.

Because most people are uncomfortable with killing mass numbers of deer the word "sharpshooting" is used to disguise the reality and to make the slaughter more acceptable. It is a false perception.

In a bait and shoot program in NJ

The public was told that Sharpshooters, who were off duty police officers, would be used because they were more responsible than average hunters. This was an important factor, because many people were uncomfortable with the sharpshooting concept, and the thought of the police being more responsible than average hunters helped the County officials push through the 'bait and kill' operation.

However, what the general public did not hear was what was said at the 1-18-95 meeting of the Fish and Game council. Charles Sigmund, Director of the Division of Parks and Recreation for Union County, testified that while the public perceives them (the police officers) to be more responsible, he does not necessarily support that.

Hundreds of pounds of food were put out for the tame deer of the Watchung Reservation. Every morning, the 'sharpshooters' killed deer feeding at these sites. After the first 30 deer were killed, Union County official Dan Bernier admitted that 3 deer were shot, but escaped into the woods, wounded. The 'sharpshooters' were shooting tame deer over bait sites, and still wounded 10% of the animals.

Since hundreds of pounds of food was now available for the survivors, this action surely wound up creating more deer than what would have occurred without the sharpshooting. Sharpshooting, like all other forms of hunting, is cruel, inaccurate, and only leads to increases in the deer populations that it supposedly seeks to reduce.


White Buffalo, Solon's former deer extermination contractors, trained the Summit County Metroparks.

Claims that the deer would be "euthanized" by highly skilled sharpshooters were exposed as lies when SHARK's undercover video cameras documented animals shot, but left alive to suffer. The deer were shot only once, even though in many cases they did not immediately die.

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An Unlikely Ally

Its no surprise that deer advocates are against hunting, what is more surprising is when a major proponent of deer culling with a PhD takes a stand against hunting. Not only did the founder of White Buffalo, the city's sharpshooter, take this stand, he communicated this to our public works commissioner in January this year before that same person proposed a bow hunting program.

WhiteBuffalo on Hunting

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The Experts Speak

Despite the countless deer kills that have taken place in parks and neighborhoods the cry still goes up: "There are too many deer! We've got to do something about the deer!"

Yet government wildlife managers have understood for a century or more that killing a significant portion of a deer population helps ensure more deer will be present for hunting in the near future. Rather than solve problems, deer kills have become a big problem.

Dr. Allen Rutberg, head of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine and renowned expert on nonlethal means of deer population management, states that:

"The most visible weakness in the assertion that hunting is necessary to control deer populations is that it has LARGELY FAILED TO DO SO over the last two decades. Just because deer are being killed doesn’t mean that deer populations are being controlled."

Ron Baker, The American Hunting Myth, Vantage Press NY

"As we have seen, wildlife biologists have been nurtured on the hunting philosophy and have been taught that ecosystems can be improved by manipulation."

"Hunting, whether in the presence or absence of large predators is no guaranteed annual 'check' on deer populations." Elimination of predators does not account for large deer populations. Urban sprawl and deer management for hunting do.

Thomas Eveland, Ph.D

"We often think predators control prey, but that is rarely the case. Prey controls predators; predators diminish as prey declines. It is not the case that removing wolves, cougars, and other predators causes deer to increase."

"A quick surge in a deer population can occur if hunting is implemented where it hasn't been before. In any event if hunting is started, it will have to continue."

"Archery has never been a valid control measure for animal populations. It's a recreational offshoot of gun hunting, and as such they can't really sell it as a control measure...so what's often done - and this is done WRONGLY...is that people will come in and they will often use what I call the 'D' words. Devastation - Destruction - Disaster...to talk about these particular animals. And what they do is they steer the public into thinking these animals need to be killed. And many times these people will say, We understand archery is not going to control the deer herd, but gosh, we gotta do something, these things are big rascals we gotta kill some of 'em, just stick a few of 'em, anything."

Gary Alt, former Chief Deer Biologist in PA said,

"Deer management has been the biggest mistake in the history of wildlife management." He refers to it as MALPRACTICE.

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MetroParks Slaughter

From: deerdefenders@hotmail.com
To: deerdefenders@hotmail.com
Subject: Stop Metroparks Deer Slaughter PETITION
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:14:05 -0500

Dear Friends,

The Cleveland Metroparks is presently finishing their 14th year of deer massacres. They have lost the meaning of conservation, stewardship, morals and integrity. They continue to hold up their pseudo science , lie and deny, government spin to justify the ongoing killing spree which brings much scorn from legitimate scientists.

As Mark Twain said, “Get your facts first and then you can distort them as much as you please.”

At the inception (1998) of the park’s amoral, blood and guts, killing-frenzy plan, hundreds of citizens vowed to keep fighting. Sadly, since then people have given up and your tax dollars continue to be turned into blood money. We understand it takes courage and stamina to confront cruelty but it is our fervent hope that you will not turn your backs on their lies, locked gates and blood-soaked soil and help us stop this senseless, barbaric, cruelty in the form of public outcry. United we stand.

• To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men. Abraham Lincoln
• The evil of the world is made possible by the sanction you give it. Ayn Rand
• It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop. Confucius
• Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. Edmond Burke

We will not be silenced

Please sign this petition and tell the Metroparks officials to come into the 21st century in regard to this very solvable conflict and then forward to your family and friends.

http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-cleveland-metroparks-annual-deer-slaughter-2

Thank you for your kindness, compassion and commitment.

The Deer Defenders Team

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Culling Facts

There are many assumptions surrounding "deer culling", people assume that more deer results in increased deer vehicle accidents (DVAs) and therefore the "solution" is to have less deer.

It is a FACT that killing deer makes the surviving herd stronger, increases their breeding rate so that more killing needs to be done to maintain the herd size.  This becomes an ongoing maintenance burden.

It is a FACT that unless you kill all the deer that some will remain to run in front of cars, so killing is ineffective in addressing DVAs.

It is a FACT that in the quest to improve DVA safety, that culling raises its own safety issues by discharging deadly weapons in highly populated urban environments.

It is a FACT that areas with far larger deer herds who couldn't possibly afford continuing killing have successfully deployed DVA deterrents that are far more effective, target ALL deer and are much cheaper than culling.

It is a FACT that decision makers in Solon are hunters and have no interest in these cheaper more effective non-lethal alternatives.

It is a FACT that the people Solon consulted (USDA Wildlife Services and ODNR/ODOW) derive the majority of their funding from Hunting interests and therefore have a conflict of interest.

Let's stick with the FACTS.

Culling/Killing is an expensive experiment that has failed, it is time to try something different.

Educate yourself about DVA deterrents, click here for the Main Web Site page and click the sidebar labels for Lethal, Non-Lethal, and DVA for other Blog posts on those topics.


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Safety Ambiguity

We constantly hear about the "deer problem" is a safety issue.  Some people hear the word safety and give a nod without further thought, others ask a few questions and they are told about DVAs.  No one asks about the "solution" and its safety.   Well some people decided to videotape the "solution", White Buffalo culling and gave the video tape to a Cleveland SWAT member, someone with a very detailed understanding of using firearms in a confined urban environment.

His assessment --  He was disturbed and stated that the footage he saw was dangerous to local residents.
Bakos summation2


Reducing accidents is a worthy goal, but how are we going to explain that for the price of safety, someone was shot.

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Killing Wildlife is Expensive

The federal government has an expensive program under the USDA for killing animals.  It is this group that has come to Solon to present their ideas.

"The federal government kills wildlife all the time and we’re paying for it. The program is called Wildlife Damage Management and its run by the unlikely Department of Agriculture (the USDA)."

"The general public was given a window into the work of Wildlife Service last month when thousands of birds were reported to have mysteriously died in South Dakota. Upon investigation it was admitted by the USDA that poison bait had been set out for the birds after a local farmer complained that the birds were defecating in his animal feed. Dead birds were also reported “falling from the sky” in Arkansas and Louisiana into residential areas and parks."

"What is really the point of killing all these animals year after year? (4.1 million in 2009; 5.0 million in 2008; 2.4 million in 2007; and 1.6 million in 2006). When you look at the numbers the program starts to look more like an annual public works project offering steady employment and job security rather than a necessary and defensible federal expenditure."

"What a business. First Wildlife Service is called in as the expert to assess the problem, and then its hired to fix it. Not a bad gig if you can get it. "
See more details in Linda Heinberg's full article go here.

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