Town hires sharpshooters to combat deer population

The Princeton Township administration is in the final stages of implementing a five-year deer management program intended to reduce the deer population from its current size of between 1,300 and 1,600 to an ideal size of about 500 deer. Members of the University community — including professor Peter Singer — have spoken out against the deer hunt.

The high deer population has been blamed for a large increase in car accidents involving deer collisions — which have increased 10-fold since 1972 — and for damage to crops and brush.

Township officials have hired White Buffalo — a group of professional sharpshooters from Hamden, Conn. — who expect to set up about 30 bait sites by the end of next week to lure deer. Three or four sharpshooters will then work by night with rifles and silencers to eliminate deer attracted by the traps.

According to co-founder of the League of Animal Protection Voters Sue Russell, state management of deer herds has been an ongoing project.

"In the 1930s the deer population reached its carrying capacity, and especially since the 1970s and 1980s state game management has been really intense in New Jersey," she said.

As one of the largest landowners in the township, the University has been contacted by White Buffalo for permission to allow sharpshooters on its property.

According to Director of Community and State Affairs for the University Pam Hersh, "[White Buffalo] contacted all major landowners in town and asked if they wanted to participate in the deer hunt."

After a casual conversation with White Buffalo in which the University informed the sharpshooters of its restrictive gun policies, the sharpshooters left and have not contacted the University again, Hersh said.

Hersh declined to confirm whether or not the University will participate in the hunt.

"They said they would get back to us if they wanted to pursue the issue," Hersh said. "We told them about our rule in Rights, Rules and Responsibilities that possession of firearms on campus is illegal."

"Also, there is a state firearms law that bans the possession of any firearms on the grounds of an educational institution without the written authorization of the governing officer of the institution," she said.

According to Mercer County Deer Alliance spokesman Frank Wiener, members of the Princeton community are incensed by the idea of sharpshooters roaming around their property at night.

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"We feel that this is like something out of '1984,' " he said. "This is totalitarianism."

Singer said he is opposed to the violent measures that will be taken against deer.

"There is a moral question to be raised about killing animals," he said. "This is a conflict of interests, and we need to find a way to compromise for the interests of people and animals without having to harm one or the other."

Nick Guyatt GS, a member of the Princeton Campus Greens, said he was pleased that the University has appeared to oppose the program on campus so far.

"The administration definitely deserves praise so far for keeping them off campus. As Princeton students, the most important thing we can do is support the administration in opposing this," he said.

"Guys going around in black costumes and ski-masks with high-powered rifles and silencers between two and four in the morning shooting at stuff that moves is alarming to me," he said.

Kristen Harknett GS, a member of the Princeton Campus Greens, agreed that students should take an active role in preventing the deer hunt.

"Students should think about approaching the University, maybe by going to Shapiro's office hours," said Harknett, who is helping to raise student support for a demonstration that will take place this weekend off-campus.

The demonstration is sponsored by the Mercer County Deer Alliance and various other local animal rights organizations. Wiener said he hopes University students will get involved.

"We're hoping for the participation of University students, especially with all of Princeton's traditions of humanitarianism," Wiener said. "Einstein believed in a balance of nature. This is a thinking community and we want people to think about this."

Wiener said the demonstrators will attempt to persuade local administrators to consider using less violent methods to reduce the deer population.

"They could use contraceptives, which were successful in Canada, or the most effective deterrent is setting up a reflector system along the roads," he said.

"The deer move here to Princeton and discover the wonderful taste of our gardens, and our only strategy is to murder them because they like our yards so much," Wiener said. "There's a real conflict of interests here."