Politics & Government
Culling Reduces Lower Merion Deer Population by 42
The average cost per deer culled from 2009-2011 was $230.
A total of 42 deer were eliminated as a result of the township’s deer culling program last month, Lower Merion Police Superintendent Michael McGrath told the Board of Commissioners Police Committee on Wednesday night.
U. S. Department of Agriculture conducted the deer culling for the township from Nov. 14 to 19, between 9 p.m. and dawn, using rifle hunters with the USDA's Wildlife Services Unit, McGrath said.
The 42 deer were found throughout township, McGrath said.
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Commissioner Lewis Gould Jr. said he was surprised to learn that the deer were “culled from the entirety of the township, from east to west. This is a problem for the entirety of the township.”
Commissioner Cheryl Gelber asked if the yield of the culling might have been higher if it had been conducted for two weeks instead of one. (McGraths’s figures showed that yields were higher in past years, with 119 deer culled in 2009, and 86 culled in 2010.)
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McGrath said the USDA was not available to work with Lower Merion for two weeks and last year, the second week of the culling “wasn’t a very positive return.”
In the last three years, the township has culled a total of 288 deer (190 females and 98 males) and , McGrath said.
The total cost for culling from 2009-2011 was $66,158, putting the average cost per deer at $230, McGrath said.
Referring to the figure of $230 per deer, Commissioner Daniel Bernheim asked how the township could reduce costs.
McGrath said there is a cost for bringing the USDA team in and the cost of processing the deer.
“So this is the going rate?” Bernheim asked.
McGrath said yes, “and it’s far below many of the others we looked at.”
Commissioner George Manos asked if the deer culling has had a desirable effect on reducing collisions. McGrath said the police plan to assess that.
McGrath said if residents would like to have a bow and arrow group address a deer problem in their area, they can contact the police department. McGrath said bow and arrow groups are not limited to the time frame of the deer culling program.
