Menu
What's new
Troll Kingdom

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Hastings-on-Hudson Considers Contraceptive To Control Deer Population

Eggs Mayonnaise

Eggs Mayonnaise

All In With The Nuts
Hastings-on-Hudson Considers Contraceptive To Control Deer Population

December 13, 2012 2:25 PM

HASTINGS-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) – A village in Westchester County is considering controlling the rising deer population by darting the animals with a contraceptive.

Hastings-on-Hudson is considering implementing a technique called immunocontraception that would prevent deer from becoming pregnant for two years, officials said.

Mayor Peter Swiderski said the overpopulation of deer is diminishing the quality of life for residents in the community.

“There’s dozens of cases of Lyme disease in our town, there’s damage to property and cars,” Swiderski told WCBS 880.”It’s a real issue; it’s not a trivial concern.”

The mayor added that the overpopulation of deer damages the understory in parks, resulting in a long term imbalance in the environmental health of the forest.

“There’s a range of negative effects that overpopulation of deer have on a community and we suffer from all of them,” Swiderski told 1010 WINS.

The five-year experiment would be subsidized by grants from foundations concerned with the ethical treatments of animals.

“This particular experiment is going to be heavily subsidized; it’s not going to cost the village a significant amount of money,” Swiderski said.

Volunteers will begin gathering preliminary research for the birth control project by early next year and the village expects soon to receive state and federal environmental approval for the plan, officials said.

The project would be led by Tufts University veterinary expert Allen Rutberg.

“It’s one of the first efforts, really in the country, for a dense suburb like ours to try to control the burgeoning deer population by the use of immunocontraception,” Swiderski said.

The mayor insists the program is both ethical and safe.

“It’s safe to deer, it’s safe to people and there’s no moral objection to it — no deer is losing its life here,” Swiderski said. “It’s economically affordable and it addresses an issue that really affects people’s quality of life.”

The darting could begin by 2014.
Click to expand...
If this works, can we try it on Tea Party trailer trash next? :bigass:
 
Seriously here... they should introduce some wolves in the area. Better than tainting the meat with hormones and chemicals that humans might eat.
 
I'm not familiar with the area myself, but the reintroduction of wolves is costly not only financially but they may also overhunt the deer population and move on to livestock.
 
I prefer a more natural approach. If the deer are so populous that government has come up with a harebrained scheme to use contraceptives, then wolves over-hunting wouldn't be an issue for a while. The cycle of life trumps better living through chemicals.
 
True, but then what would you introduce as a natural remedy to the overpopulation of wolves?

I totally agree that the contraceptive thing is just silly. If you go to all the trouble to track down a deer (which is a challenge in itself, speaking from experience), why shoot it with a contraceptive when you could just shoot it and harvest the meat? Venison's pretty tasty, IMO.
 
It's a small village, populattion ~7000 and its total area is about 2.5 square miles. I would bet any deer hunting goes on in neighboring towns that have more wooded areas.

Anyway, I really posted this to take the shot at Teabaggers. ;)
 
I thought you were just showing that you could post outside the MF. ; )

I found out that the elk population where I live is a result of someone bringing elk to a fair in the 20's and left them behind.

They are not native to this area!
 
The most funny thing about it is that some new home developer didn't do their research and planted all of these trees and they were eaten within weeks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top