CIVIC-MINDED? UPDATED

Quietly, discreetly, a few civic-minded archers have been hunting for deer in Mt. Lebanon for years.
“I’ve taken five does out,” said Dave, a Mt. Lebanon archer who asked that his last name be withheld to avoid upsetting neighbors.

CIVIC-MINDED?  Since when does someone who is civic-minded wants his last name withheld to avoid upsetting neighbors? Civic-minded, according to Merriam-Webster: tending to do things that help your city or town and the people who live there.

John Hayes' Mt. Lebanon's deer herd in the crosshairs After years of population growth, the South Hills suburb plans to corral and kill dozens of deer. How did it come to this? is full of bullshit.

Outraged animal lovers call it “carnage.”

Mr. Hayes neglects to include those of us who are concerned with the safety of Mt. Lebanon residents. These areas are in public parks and in close proximity to neighborhood schools.

Hayes quotes the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. He also writes:

After much debate, commissioners implemented a then-controversial taxpayer-funded deer reduction program combining U.S. Department of Agriculture sharpshooters and a limited trap-and-kill operation that removed 230 deer in two years. Before the program had met its goals, it was discontinued in 2008.

What Hayes fails to mention is that in each of the years when Mt. Lebanon had "sharpshooters" and they weren't sharpshooters, by the way, Wildlife Services failed to meet their goal.

Season 1 - goal was 75 deer.  69 were killed.
Season 2 - goal was 150 deer.After doubling the nights agreed upon by Mt. Lebanon calling them "half-nights," 146 deer were killed. 145 were recovered and tagged (Lindendale deer was not tagged)

The bogus deer "incident" report is continually brought up by the media. The 807 deer related incidents include deer sightings and my August 20, 2014 report WHICH NEVER OCCURRED.

Hayes continues with:

The state Game Commission and most wildlife agencies estimate deer density using habitat analyses, road kills and other circumstantial metrics rather than hard counts, which are considered to be expensive and not particularly reliable.

Each aerial survey cost Mt. Lebanon $5,000. The 2013 count of 342 was "extremely accurate."The 2014 count of 196 done by the same firm, at the same time of the year, showing a 43% reduction, suddenly was not. (Why can't I find the 2014 aerial survey on the municipal website?) The counts done by Wildlife Services in 2006-2008 were compiled over a series of nights, possibly counting the same deer over and over.

The PA Game Commission's Chris Rosenberry failed to confirm that deer sterilization is a proven, effective method of non-lethal deer management. Science IS there, Mr. Rosenberry.

Finally, John Hayes again chose to ignore the press release which states that there will be another protest tomorrow at 5:30 PM. Good work, John.

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Petition: Stop the deer culling! As of 2:27 PM on February 22, 2015, there are 4,369 supporters.

I located the email addresses of the Scott Township commissioners.

But hunters generally stay out of Mt. Lebanon, said Dave, because of discharge ordinances that effectively "ban" hunting. The ordinances, however, aren't enforceable - Mt. Lebanon police chief Coleman McDonough confirmed that state law and prior court decisions trump local laws that attempt to control hunting, which is solely regulated by the Game Commission.

This quote really upset me.

Chris Rosenberry, head of the PGC deer and elk team that approved the plan, put it this way:
"The community is telling us that the problem is too many deer now," he said. "In some way, some of the animals have to come out of the population."

The "community" telling the PGC that the problem is too many deer now is made up of Steve Feller, Kristen Linfante, Steve Silverman, Dave Brumfield, John Bendel, Barbara Logan, Marilyn Narey, Carolyn Byham, Lourdes Castellanos, and Michalina Pendzich.