- Target:
- Belvedere City Council
- Region:
- United States of America
Belvedere 2016 was organized in early 2016 to consider ways to manage Belvedere’s deer population. The volunteer committee maintained that the deer population was negatively impacting the community. Complaints included: the condition of streets and lanes; the cost of building gates and fences; a reluctance to walk the streets for fear of encounters, particularly in the evening; deer attacks on pets; and the risk of injury and death to deer from automobiles.
Past efforts to contain the size of the herd and its impact on the city were based on building more and higher fences and on planting deer-resistant plants. Neither of these efforts has been successful in mitigating the negative impacts of deer. Neither killing the deer nor exporting them to another location are options. In doing research on the subject, the study group found that the sterilization of female deer was being successfully implemented in other communities. The procedure was sufficiently effective for the United States Human Society to approve its use under strict conditions in selected communities.
Recognizing that the City Council had worked long and hard to find a solution to the problem in 2009, the study group reached out to the community to determine if there was interest in providing direct financial support. As of June 30, 2016 the committee received pledges for more than $60,000 from more than 62 resident families.
On June 13th the volunteer committee recommended to the City Council that the leading company in the “deer management” business be brought out to Belvedere from Connecticut to do an analysis of the Belvedere situation and to describe the procedures that it has successfully implemented in other communities.
We, the undersigned residents of Belvedere, California, herby petition the City Council and the City of Belvedere to:
1. Retain professional wildlife research consultants to perform a study of Belvedere’s deer herd. The study should include a determination of herd characteristics including age groupings, gender breakdown and DNA information relative to disease and other characteristics. The study should consider the state of the community's vegetation and whether the food supply is sufficient to maintain a healthy deer herd.
2. To bring representatives of White Buffalo, Inc. to Belvedere to study the deer-related ecology of Belvedere and to make a presentation to all interested parties. The presentation would describe the procedures that White Buffalo has used in other communities to humanely sterilize female deer.
3. To consider retaining professional consultants to undertake studies of deer ticks in the January –February, 2017 period. The objective of this study would be to determine if there is a risk to the local population of Lyme disease from local deer.
The purpose of these studies is to gather information that would help determine whether future actions are necessary. Aside from the initial visit to Belvedere, the petitioners are NOT recommending that the City of Belvedere enter into a contractual relationship with White Buffalo or any other organization at this time. The City Council and the City of Belvedere will determine if any further actions are needed at some future date.
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The Review management of Belvedere’s deer population petition to Belvedere City Council was written by Belvedere Deer Study Group 2016 and is in the category Environment at GoPetition.