HomeMy WebLinkAboutDavidson- comment on deis for cayuga heights' deer management plan (1).pdf1
Tayo Johnson
From:Rebecca Warren Davidson <rd18@cornell.edu>
Sent:Thursday, December 16, 2010 3:15 PM
To:Kate Supron
Cc:Mary Mills
Subject:Comment on DEIS for Cayuga Heights' Deer Management Plan
Importance:High
Dear Mayor Supron,
I would like the record to show that I am strongly opposed to the killing of dear in our village using the “Net-and-Bolt”
method proposed in the Draft "Cayuga Heights Deer Management Plan.” This cruel and inhumane activity has no place in our
community, no matter what the reason.
Yes, deer can be an annoyance to gardeners, but there are other ways to solve this problem. An important one is to allow residents to
fence their yards. As a landscape and architectural historian I can tell you that the fencing of private property has an honorable
tradition in this country since colonial times. It was only with the development of the “garden suburb” in the 19th and early 20th
centuries that open, unfenced property became a design choice. Fencing of property is an equally valid design choice, and one which
can be expected to have a positive effect on our community in terms of reduced antagonism between neighbors and toward deer and
other animals.
Deer, by the way, are only one issue gardeners and other residents of our community face, and by no means the most significant
one. The primary impact on any landscape, designed or not, is man. Improper use and overuse of pesticides and herbicides, badly-
constructed roads, and lack of proper drainage are serious concerns affecting all residents of the village, and are all the result of
intervention by humans, not animals.
In other comments and letters you have heard from myself and many other people that the Draft Cayuga Heights Deer Management
Plan is a deeply flawed document in terms of the reliability and validity of the information it contains, so I will not reiterate those
arguments here. I will merely state that it is based on incomplete and in some cases inaccurate data, and that it does not represent the
wishes of the majority of people who live in the Village of Cayuga Heights.
Finally, I wish it to be known that I will not allow my property to be used for baiting deer, killing deer, or for the discharge of a
firearm within 500 feet of my dwelling, which is illegal under any circumstances.
I urge you to continue to search for solutions to the deer issue which will not pit neighbor against neighbor and citizens against the
village governance, which will be not only legal but also humane toward the living creatures with whom we share this planet, and
which will be worthy of an enlightened, intelligent, and non-violent community. The proposed plan is none of those things. Enacting
it will result in long-term physical, psychological, and economic harm to our community, without any long term gain, as has been
repeatedly demonstrated in other communities--such as Princeton, New Jersey--where over a decade of killing deer has not solved the
deer “problem.”
Sincerely yours,
Rebecca W. Davidson
206 Highgate Road
Resident of Ithaca for 24 years
Resident of Cayuga Heights for 12 years