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Town & Country residents fired up about latest approval for deer management

By Diane Plattner

Fireworks flew at the first meeting of the New Year in Town & Country as city officials recently received the green light to move forward with their revised deer management recommendations.

On Jan. 8, Town & Country officials received a letter from the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), which gave conceptual approval for the municipality’s revised deer management plan calling for deer sterilization and sharpshooting.

“I am supportive of the city pursuing the combination of sterilization and sharpshooting of deer to determine the relative merits of employing both lethal and non-lethal methods to control deer populations in a highly suburban environment,” wrote MDC Director John Hoskins.

Hoskins’ letter was in response to a deer management proposal Town & Country City Administrator John Copeland sent to MDC on Dec. 12. Anthony DeNicola of White Buffalo Inc., the contractor Town & Country hired to advise the city on wildlife issues, prepared the proposal. It was based on the city’s Deer Task Force revised recommendations, which included deer sterilization and sharpshooting.

The Board of Aldermen recently budgeted $150,000 for those non-lethal and lethal deer control methods. That decision came after last year’s Town & Country residential survey that showed overwhelming support for non-lethal methods to control the city’s deer population. Residents said they are eager for Town & Country to implement deer surgical sterilization, which would make the municipality a pioneer not only in Missouri, but also nationwide in the innovative, non-lethal deer control method.

“As a community, we need to be proud of our actions and behavior,” resident Jim Ambrozetes said. “Patience, tolerance and the acceptance of new ideas are the key ingredients to change.”

One resident questioned the procedures that the governmental body used in determining the method. On Jan. 12, resident Barbara Ann Hughes, a former alderman, asked the board several procedural questions about the proposal, including whether the board had voted to submit it to MDC and when a vote was taken to hire the contractor.

“Where is the transparency?” Hughes said. “Where is the collaboration? Where is the trust?”

Hughes also inquired about the sites to be used for deer sterilization and killing, which she expects city officials to videotape.

Hughes and several other residents also expressed concerns about the timeline to implement the deer management plan. MDC issued a permit to kill deer from Jan. 15 through April 15, 2009. However, MDC’s approval letter states that the deer management plan is contingent upon several stipulations, including a requirement that sterilization of 100 does must occur prior to any attempts to kill by sharpshooting 100 other unmarked, antler-less deer. But wildlife experts said female deer can only be safely sterilized at certain times of the year, such as the fall, before deer mating season, not in the spring.

In addition, before MDC’s conceptual approval of the plan can be implemented, Town & Country officials must finalize it, said Town & Country Mayor Jon Dalton. That process, he said, will include the board’s adoption of ordinances to allow both the lethal and non-lethal deer management methods and land assemblage of a minimum of 10 acres. Therefore, it will take some time, Dalton said.

“I know there is a lot of excitement and concern over the MDC letter,” Dalton said. “But we will not let it move premature decisions of the city before we complete our process. It is up to the board to ensure we implement safe, humane deer management. We will not short-circuit our community consideration. I can also assure that in 2009 a deer management program will be implemented.”