St. Joe Looking At Deer Issue

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deer5464-4

The city of St. Joseph does not currently have a plan to manage deer in the city limits, but it’s clear after a lengthy portion of Monday’s city commission meeting that people feel it’s necessary. The commission heard from Michigan Department of Natural Resources deer specialist Chad Stewart about the options some communities are undertaking to handle the problem, from using snipers in Ann Arbor to trying sterilization or other non-lethal methods. He had this response to a question from Commissioner Jeff Richards about how the city should start.

“I would personally try to ramp up an education campaign to understand what are things that people can be doing to try to eliminate or mitigate some of these conflicts,” said Stewart. “Probably prioritize some sort of survey to get opinions and attitudes of residents.”

He noted it will become illegal early next year to intentionally feed deer in the southern Lower Peninsula. Stewart said the animals will still find bird feeders and shrubs, but it will be against the law to put out bait piles, salt licks, or other such things to lure the deer.

“This can be an extremely divisive topic,” cautioned Stewart. “A lot of people have very different opinions of how deer should be managed.”

Stewart said Grand Haven and Muskegon are the two lakeshore communities he’s aware of that have started looking at deer management plans, and noted Ann Arbor has already brought in snipers recently to try to cull the urban herd there. No action was taken by the commission on the issue.