Deer (female) sterilization in city of Virginia approved by City Council

[Beringia]

full article
http://fairfaxcity.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/city-council-votes-to-move-forward-with-deer-sterilization-program

Fairfax City, Virginia Councilmembers voted 5-1 Tuesday night to move forward with participation in a grant-funded program to surgically sterilize deer within the city limits in an effort to help control the growing population. Efforts to cull the population by passing an ordinance that would allow limited deer hunting within the city ended in a deadlock this past summer. Since then, the City has been presented with the opportunity to participate in this program and have it funded by a university-based research group that is examining the success rate of using such methods to control growing deer populations in municipalities that choose not to use lethal methods.

The program will be led by Dr. Anthony DeNicola of White Buffalo Inc. DeNicola, who explained he has led this program in other parts of the country with some success in the past few years, made a presentation to the Council Tuesday. He said he believes the program offers the City the best option for controlling what he believes could soon be an out-of-control deer problem in the near future if the City fails to take some sort of action. In essence, DeNicola said that over a period of about nine days, a crew led by White Buffalo Inc. would drive through the City and shoot all female deer with darts that contain both a drug to disorient them as well as a tranquilizer, plus a tracking chip in case they flee. The crew would then capture the deer once they pass out. He said the crew then transports the deer to a central location to perform the surgery, which consists of an ovariectomy. Post-surgery, the deer are released back into the area they came from. He said the surgeries are all performed by licensed veterinarians and the deer are treated with the utmost care and humanity. He added that the deer are up and running around and feeding again by the very next day.

As for the program's success thus far, DeNicola said when compared to other deer population control methods, "Surgical sterilization isn’t a miracle worker, but we have 100-percent effectiveness, because we can engage every animal in a community, and over time, see a decline in population, without lethal means being necessary." He said once the surgeries are complete, an area will usually see a 10- to 15-percent reduction in population annually. As far as costs, DeNicola said they average about $1,000 per female deer, or $500 each if licensed veterinarians in the community are willing to volunteer their time. In this case, though, the fees will be covered by the research organization running the study, and the City will not have to use public funds.

Once all the necessary permits and permissions are received from Virginia Department of Game, the city manager will begin drafting agreements with White Buffalo Inc. and the research program to begin.



From a New York Times 1998 Article - Anthony DeNicola has also controlled deer by killing them, with sharpshooters

In Suburbs, Deer Sprawl Meets the Deerslayer

The team of hunters, led by Dr. Anthony J. DeNicola, a Yale-educated wildlife biologist from Hamden, Conn., was here to methodically kill up to 150 deer, under a contract with the government of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, a suburb that is one of many municipalities trying to cull overgrown herds of white-tailed deer.

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/30/nyregion/in-suburbs-deer-sprawl-meets-the-deerslayer.html

White Buffalo
http://www.whitebuffaloinc.org/staff.html

[DURHAM D]

1. What?

Can't they just find a way to give the male deer low T?

[geek tragedy]

2. If you miss just one male deer . . . nt

[Xyzse]

3. -snorts- Sorry, I have no idea why I just bust out laughing with that one.

[Jenoch]

4. This is the second attempt to use birth control

methods to reduce the deer population in Fairfax City, Virginia. In 2010 the city council voted unanimously to implement the project. It was a complete failure however. None of the council members remembered that deer do not have opposable thumbs.

[Beringia]

5. Is this a joke

or was there a previous project to use birth control?

[FarCenter]

6. Release the coyotes!