Deer Problems: How To Cope Without Culling
City Council President Saul Eisen encourages residents to call local officer for solutions
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Deer are common occurances in Beachwood. And in neighboring communities, like Solon, herds are culled — selectively killed — to keep the numbers from getting out of control.
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In June, we addressed the issue with Beachwood's animal control officer, Steve Suder, who told us that Beachwood's herd isn't big enough to call for culling.
But he added that the suburbs have become a breeding ground for deer, ripe with food and devoid of predators, that makes survival almost too easy. He gave some important tips for dealing with deer (like, don't feed them!) that you can read here.
Now City Council President Saul Eisen has stepped in, too.
He said at Monday's council meeting that he connected with Jeff Westerfield, the assistant wildlife management supervisor with the Ohio Department of Wildlife, a division of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Westerfield encouraged Eisen to share his contact information with Beachwood residents and commited to helping anyone with a deer problem. Eisen said that the goal is to offer solutions without killing the deer in our neighborhoods.
Westerfield can be reached at (330) 644-2293.
Elliot Ness
4:41 pm on Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Deer are a nuisance. I have hit 2 deer in the last 8 years on liberty in Solon. One early in the morning and another at night. This caused thousands of dollars of damage to my car and one incident put me in the emergency room. Not feeding deer is a useless solution. The mild winter means there is plenty of greenery for them to graze on. I have a photo, in broad daylight last March of a whole herd of deer walking on the side of Solon Rd. There were 16 of them! Culling may not be the answer, but its more practical then importing wolves. Deer will find a way to increase their numbers, at least 300 of them won't be running into cars. Culling is the safest, most humane way to deal with it.