LETTER: Opposes proposed deer cull for Ludington | Readers Forum

I discussed this with the city manager at the suggestion of the mayor and I think both are open minded, but I should know what you think.

I am against this idea for the following reasons:

1. Even if the cull is successful over time, the deer will come back and when they do, we won’t have another $125,000 donation from the treasury to pay for another cull.

2. The presence of deer probably makes us all more careful drivers and it can save children’s lives.

3. To my knowledge, there has never been a serious white-tailed deer accident in the city.

4. Deer have been in town since city ordinances tied our dogs. I don’t disagree with this, but the eventual migration of wildlife into the city should have been predictable.

5. Public health is referenced as the rationale for culling, particularly chronic wasting disease, even though there has never been a reported case of this disease in Mason County, and this disease is not not transmissible to humans or pets.

6. I understand that the killing would be done in the dark using night vision goggles and rifles with night sights to kill deer. What could go wrong? It seems to me that many things could (happen), including injury or death to a person or a pet. Trauma to a person, especially children who might witness a deer being slaughtered, is also a possibility.

7. For a city that is so averse to accountability that it won’t have beech lifeguards due to accountability, but will consider people shooting rifles in the city seems ridiculous. We will not risk an activity that could save lives, but we will undertake one that has the potential to take lives simply defies logic.

8. Another question is, is it human? The deer have been visiting the city for decades, while being wary they have lost much of their fear of humans, so it will be a slaughter. All because of a few eaten flowers or shrubs. Are we or have we become? I hope not.

9. So what, do we start killing all the rabbits, then the squirrels and so on until we’re the only people in Ludington?