Mt. Lebanon commissioners are expected to vote Monday on a municipal deer management plan and on submitting permit requests to the Pennsylvania Game Commission for population control measures.
Among the measures is a proposal for deer sterilization that, if approved by the game commission, would be the first permit of its kind to be issued in the state.
The municipality also is seeking approval to trap and euthanize animals.
A third measure favored by a majority of commissioners — culling by archers — does not require a permit.
A cull optimally would start in late January, following the conclusion of the game commission’s archery hunting season for deer, but that might not be possible for 2015.
“It’s probably too late to start your own program,” Gary Fujak, game commission wildlife conservation officer, told commissioners during their discussion session last week.
He suggested that the municipality contact an organization that conducts bow hunts such as Whitetail Management Associates, a nonprofit that requires its members to undergo a qualification process, including a proficiency test and criminal background check.
A cull would be the first in Mt. Lebanon since 2008, when the municipality concluded a two-year cooperative service agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services for a program that included the use of rifles along with trapping and euthanasia.
Wildlife Services culled 69 deer in the 2006-07 season and 146 in 2007-08, according to a draft deer management plan prepared by Wildlife Specialists LLC, based in Tioga County, and submitted to commissioners for review in October.
The agreement with Wildlife Services was not renewed for 2009; since then, municipal officials have noted an increase in vehicle accidents involving deer. At the start of 2014, commissioners said they would like to reduce deer-vehicle collisions in Mt. Lebanon by 50 percent over the next five years.
Subsequent discussions resulted in a majority of commissioners agreeing on three preferred methods to achieve the goal, while earmarking $68,000 in municipal funds toward deer management.
An archery cull would involve minimal cost to the municipality, Mr. Fujak explained, as hunters incur most of the expenses.
Trapping and euthanizing could cost $300 to $600 per deer taken, and surgical sterilization is estimated at $800 to $1,000 per animal, according to Wildlife Specialists. Sterilization has been employed sporadically in several states but never has been granted a game commission permit in Pennsylvania.
“Any discussion of sterilization, it will take longer to negotiate that. It’s not something they just pull off the shelf and issue a permit for,” Merlin Benner, Wildlife Specialists president, told commissioners last week.
The game commission currently does not permit trapping and euthanizing, either. But because it was used locally in the past, “this technique may indeed by available to Mt. Lebanon in the near future,” the Wildlife Specialists report stated.
The number of deer taken by trapping and euthanizing could be comparable to sharpshooters using rifles, according to Mr. Benner.
“You’re effectively going to get the same numbers,” he told the commissioners.
Sharpshooting would be the preferred method of a group of Mt. Lebanon residents who are calling for a reduction in the deer population.
Lebo Residents for Effective Deer Management so far has submitted petitions with 1,200 signatures to the municipality. Many of those involved in the effort have spoken at recent commission meetings to urge action, including several former Mt. Lebanon commissioners.
Other residents, however, have expressed their opposition at meetings to lethal means of deer management, especially the use of rifles, because of safety concerns about using weapons in densely populated areas.
First Published: November 20, 2014, 5:00 a.m.