Archive: Around Town

Village of Lansing Frank Moore brought a draft of a resolution to ask Tompkins County to put in a program place to control the deer population at Monday's regular Trustee meeting.  The resolution supports a similar one drafted by the Village of Cayuga Heights, but highlighted some key differences.  "It seems to me that the Council of Governments that (Cayuga Heights) emphasized in their resolution is not appropriate," he said.  "It should be the County (legislature)."

Moore suggested conducting a study to quantify the damage deer cause to crops, gardens, wooded areas, and automobiles.  "When you talk about culling you have trouble with people who think in terms of animal rights," he said.  The only counter to that is to emphasize the economic seriousness and public safety seriousness of the issue.  Now we rely only on anecdotal things and just a few facts, such as 30 deer per year are killed on the Village's highways.  But we don't know those things."

Trustee Lynn Leopold said that deer control is within the State's jurisdiction, not that of the County.  "It seems to me it is a County problem," Moore countered.  But Leopold noted that state conservation officers deal with game.  She and others had conflicting experiences with the Tompkins County Sheriff's Department regarding their involvement in past episodes to do with deer and other animals.

While Moore had drafted the resolution at the request of the Trustees at their last meeting, discussion revealed confusion about who exactly is empowered to deal with the deer problem.  "As I understand what's going on in other places it isn't the State that's doing it," said Moore.  "It's the municipalities getting together and working to solve their own problems.  I thought at the Council of Governments meeting that the County Supervisor (Tim Joseph) accepted that it's a county problem."

Trustee John O'Neill noted that the motives of agencies within the state conflict.  "The attitude of the DEC is to maximize the legal hunt.," he said.  "That argues, from their point of view, for a large deer population.  Culling is counter to that."  As the discussion progressed it became clear that nobody knew for sure what authority the County might have to effectively deal with deer.

"I think it's significant that many municipalities around the state are really aggressive about this," Moore said.  But all agreed that before sending a resolution to the County that more information is needed.  The Board decided to seek guidance from the Department of Environmental Conservation before sending a final draft to the County.  "We are not putting it aside," said Mayor Don Hartill.  "But we need more information."

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