Wesselman Woods Considering Culling To Decrease Deer Population
An overgrown deer population at the Wesselman Woods Nature Center in Evansville has staff members looking at different options to get the problem under control. One of those options includes deer culling where experts are brought in to hunt the deer. However, that option is causing some controversy.
Wesselman Woods Nature Center staff members say they want to keep their forest healthy, and that’s why they are considering a number of options. Staff says the deer population in the nature center is not only affecting the health of the forest and deer but could create dangerous situations for nearby homeowners and drivers.
The center is applying for a Department of Natural Resources grant to have a professional service to decrease its deer population. Deer without a natural predator is growing in population and that’s causing several problems.
“It is literally killing our forests because of overpopulation,†says Wesselman Wood’s Natural Resources and Operations Manager.
The nature center in the middle of a city and a residential neighborhood.
“You know that Boeke road is heavily traveled. I’ve understood that some of them have come across Morgan Avenue and I mean they just don’t have that much of a chance,†says Cliff Aiton who lives down the street from the center.
Deer can cause problems for neighbors, and drivers.
“There are corridors, and with that, we have super high populations of deer in our forests that means we have even higher a number crossing roads which are very dangerous,†says Hall.
“We’ve seen them out here behind the railroad tracks and stuff, around behind there,†says Tommy DeMoss who also lives close to the nature center.
“A couple of times they have come upon those railroad tracks,†says Aiton.
Reducing the deer population could help both the deer and the forest, so Wesselman staff say they are considering the DNR grant.
“Some of them that don’t get enough to eat, they starve. It’s inhumane for them to be overpopulated,†says DeMoss.
Hall says, “Deer culling is one of the most efficient ways of reducing deer populations and most cost-effective and one of the most humane names as well.
Wesselman Woods staff are still considering this as an option, but say they want to do what’s best for the forest.
I don’t hike Wessleman, but I’m surprised that no one who does,from Evansville, hasn’t weighed in on this issue pro or con. Like for instance, what is the deer population numbers? Has irreparable damage been done or is being done and in what way? How is the health of community specifically being effected? Seems there are no expert opinions involved here either. Who’s going to pay for the culling and how much will it cost? It would be good to have facts for a change!
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