| WRR Home > Media Room > WRR in the Media > Deer feeders in Hollywood Park want ban
suspended
Deer
feeders in Hollywood Park want ban suspended
by Scott Huddleston, San
Antonio Express-News
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
A stubborn drought has left deer lovers calling
for temporary suspension of a 4-year-old ban on feeding the
four-legged creatures in Hollywood Park.
It's not likely that the city will lift the
ban, as requested by the Hollywood Park Humane Society. But
the group is preparing to argue during a trial set for Nov.
13 that the ban violates property owners' rights.
"You've got a captive herd that is being
starved to death, slowly," said Richard Sommer, a lawyer
who will represent the group in the 73rd District Court.
"It's government regulation that's gone
too far," he said.
Some residents of the suburb, recently listed
in a Frommer's guide as one of the top 100 U.S. communities
to raise a family, have crossed conventional boundaries in
feeding deer. For years, some have fed deer by hand, a no-no,
wildlife experts say, because it exposes them to human contact
— and the threat of being shot or hit by a car.
"You never feed one by hand, because
then you've got a dead deer," said Lynn Cuny, executive
director of Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation in Kendalia.
Cuny said she supports the idea of putting
out a "limited amount" of alfalfa pellets, but not
enough to make deer dependent on it. If deer look frail, leaving
food or water can help them during a drought, she said.
Will Mangum, chairman of Hollywood Park's
deer committee, which advises the suburb's mayor and City
Council, said the white-tailed deer there look healthy, possibly
because people are feeding them surreptitiously.
But people shouldn't have to break the law
to help the deer, which have nowhere to go, said Cheri Emick,
president of the humane society. Because of the drought and
stringent water restrictions, there's little vegetation for
the deer to eat, she said.
"People are doing things to help the
deer, but it's illegal, and that stinks," Emick said.
When the city resumes a program to trap and
move mature deer to ranches in October, the deer will need
to be healthy to survive, she said. Last year, two died while
being transported.
Emick has been cited for seven violations
of the feeding ban, and has paid about $800 in municipal fines,
after pleading guilty or having a jury trial.
Hugh Scott has three cases pending on accusations
of deer feeding. He said he supports relocation of deer to
reduce the herd, but opposes the feeding ban.
"Part of deer management is not starvation,"
he said. "I can't just watch an animal die."
David Achilles, a member of the deer committee,
said he also supports relocation but can't see a clear benefit
from the feeding ban. Since the city's trapper often gets
up to $100 for each deer sold to ranchers, ensuring the deer
are well fed strengthens the viability of the relocation program,
which a "vast majority" of the suburb's residents
feel is necessary, he said.
"My gut feeling is we're better off having
a moratorium" on the feeding ban, he said.
The city estimates there are 400–500
deer in the suburb, Achilles said. It has relocated about
300 in the past two years, including 30 that were destroyed
and checked for chronic wasting disease. All tested negative.
The deer breed, however, and move in from
creek basins to the west and Hill Country Village to the south.
Loop 1604 to the north and U.S. 281 to the east keep the deer
penned in Hollywood Park.
Janice Cutrer, another deer committee member,
said she supports the feeding ban and reports any violations
she sees. Too many people treat the deer as pets, and some
even keep them in their backyard.
"I think that's really cruel," she
said.
Aside from feeding deer by hand, some people
put out too much food, and typically the wrong kind —
corn that's too low in protein, said Mangum, the committee
chairman.
But while the deer issue has at times divided
the suburb's residents, the real culprit is San Antonio, Cuny
said. After permitting development around Hollywood Park,
the city is still allowing wholesale degradation of natural
green space, she said.
Deer left roaming in neighborhoods are reminders
that developers have destroyed entire ecosystems, Cuny said.
"Human beings have lived on this planet
long enough to know what this does to the environment,"
she said.
shuddleston@express-news.net
Copyright © 2006 San
Antonio Express-News
|
