CayugaDeer.org : Videos

Videos

What You Can Do

A positive resolution of this issue depends on individual people getting involved and taking action. If you live in Cayuga Heights, Forest Home, Northeast, North Campus, Lansing or the City of Ithaca, you can make a difference:

1. Make Your Voice Be Heard
Contact the following decision makers and let them know your questions and concerns:

Mayor Jim Gilmore
(607) 257-1238
email

Police Chief Tom Boyce
(607) 257-1011
email

David Donner
Deputy Mayor, Chair of Public Safety Committee
email

Cayuga Heights Trustees:
Robert Andolina email
Ron Bors email
Diana Riesman email
Kate Supron email
Bea Szekely email

Phone messages for trustees can be left at (607) 257-1238.

2. Write a letter to the editor
The Ithaca Journal
Ithaca Times
Cornell Daily Sun

3. Sign up to receive updates
Sign up at the top of this column.

4. Help educate others
Get your friends, neighbors and colleagues involved in the public dialogue about this important issue. Begin by letting them know about this web resource. You can do that quickly and easily by clicking on the Send-to-a-Friend button.

5. Attend meetings of the Cayuga Heights Village Trustees
The Village Trustees are the decision makers. Consider attending these public meetings and letting the trustees know your questions and concerns.

Village Trustee meetings are open to the public and are held at 7 PM on the third Monday of every month.

The next Village Trustee meeting will be held on Monday, August 24th at 7 PM
(re-scheduled from Aug. 17)

Village Hall
836 Hanshaw Rd.
(Community Corners)

Click here for driving directions and a map.

Cayuga Heights' deer-killing plan will be discussed and possibly voted on at the next
Board of Trustees meeting: Monday, August 24 at 7 PM, Marcham Hall, 836 Hanshaw Rd., Ithaca
Driving Directions

Overview of the case that was made for killing deer in Cayuga Heights.
(10 minute video)

DEC representative says the agency isn't going to get involved in recommending deer numbers for our community, contradicting statements made by DRAC members.

When deciding whether to implement a bait and shoot program in a community as interconnected as ours, whose decision should it be?

A tragic encounter with a deer in California is mischaracterized by this DRAC member as an example of aggression. Experts at the scene said, "There was no sign of aggression."

DRAC Chairperson Kate Supron gives numerous examples demonstrating her own aggression toward deer, but provides no examples of their aggression toward her.

If Chronic Wasting Disease (potentially transmissable through the consumption of infected animals) is one of the concerns motivating a bait and shoot program, why is DRAC proposing the deer meat be given to food banks?

What does it mean when the same person who emphasizes the seriousness of a safety issue rejects a practical solution for reasons of aesthetics?

DRAC members invoke the public health risk of contact with deer feces, yet there is no evidence to support this claim.

DRAC members don't acknowledge a bias toward deer killing that has been clearly documented on several occasions, and even openly admitted to by the committee's chairperson.

Stray bullet from bait-and-shoot deer kill program strikes upstate NY home with father and child inside.

Professor in Vermont is slain by a stray bullet while sitting at his kitchen table, eating dinner with his wife.

Stray bullet fired by a police officer shooting a snake kills five-year-old boy sitting next to his grandfather.

Deer hunter's stray bullet strikes within a young girl's bedroom, shooting clean through a pillow her head had just been resting on.

Girl shot by stray bullet while riding her horse indoors.

Cayuga Heights Police Chief Tom Boyce says he wants 80-90% approval from Cayuga Heights residents to implement a bait and shoot program.

DRAC members advocate for killing deer, calling them "a weed species."

This undercover footage demonstrates why "culling" is carried out under the cover of darkness, far from public purview. The availability of effective nonviolent alternatives only emphasizes the questionable ethics of this type of activity.

Concerned residents speak out at Cayuga Heights deer meeting in 2001. All but one (a bow hunter from out of town) were opposed to a deer killing program.

Why was the community not informed that there are safety risks associated with bringing in deer-killing contractors? And why were Police Chief Boyce's reservations about this course of action kept from the public?

Is there any basis to the claim that lead from bullets makes deer meat unfit to be consumed? (Note that it has been proposed that the deer meat from a bait-and-shoot program in Cayuga Heights would be donated to area food banks).

This web site is published by CayugaDeer.org - Ithacans for Safe, Ethical, and Rational Approaches to Reducing Deer-Human Conflict. We are a group of concerned citizens from Ithaca neighborhoods, including Cayuga Heights. If you would like to join our educational outreach effort and be informed of opportunities where your input can make a difference, contact us.