Very interesting article and the thought process of uneducated residents! If you go the actual site check out the comments. BTW - has anyone heard of the League of Humane Voters?
BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Residents came out in snowy weather Monday night to speak out against a proposed ordinance that would allow bow hunting.
Council delayed the vote until Feb. 16.
The majority of the 50 residents said they opposed the measure because of concerns about safety and finding a more humane way to handle the abundant deer population.
Joe Kocan, 61, said he doesn't mind deer on his property. "I just don't think it is safe for people to hunt in a residential area," he said. "The council tried to rush this vote and I think it needs more input from residents."
His neighbor, Rick Kall, 46, said he's more worried about unlicensed hunters.
"I think the measure will eventually pass, but think of all of the people who will come here to hunt illegally," he said. "I don't want people on my property shooting animals. I don't think all of them will use just bows either."
The ordinance requires that hunting take place on two adjacent parcels of land and the property must be at least five acres. It also does not allow hunting near oil and gas wells or schools; hunting must be done on an elevated platform.
Lane Ferrante, of the League of Humane Voters in Ohio, said the vote to kill deer will hurt the ecosystem. Hunting, she said, will cause more accidents by deer that try to escape.
Some residents who favored hunting said it would not jeopardize residents because bow shots are made from short distances and hunting would take place in remote areas.
According to the Ohio Department of Wildlife, an estimated 650,000 deer were in the state in 2009 and 250,000 were harvested. Scott Peters, a biologist with the department, said in a telephone interview that the main problems that come with overpopulation of deer are car accidents and landscape damage. Deer caused close to 25,000 car accidents statewide in 2008, he said, with 459 of them in Cuyahoga County.
Bow hunting is legal in neighboring Brecksville and Independence.
BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Residents came out in snowy weather Monday night to speak out against a proposed ordinance that would allow bow hunting.
Council delayed the vote until Feb. 16.
The majority of the 50 residents said they opposed the measure because of concerns about safety and finding a more humane way to handle the abundant deer population.
Joe Kocan, 61, said he doesn't mind deer on his property. "I just don't think it is safe for people to hunt in a residential area," he said. "The council tried to rush this vote and I think it needs more input from residents."
His neighbor, Rick Kall, 46, said he's more worried about unlicensed hunters.
"I think the measure will eventually pass, but think of all of the people who will come here to hunt illegally," he said. "I don't want people on my property shooting animals. I don't think all of them will use just bows either."
The ordinance requires that hunting take place on two adjacent parcels of land and the property must be at least five acres. It also does not allow hunting near oil and gas wells or schools; hunting must be done on an elevated platform.
Lane Ferrante, of the League of Humane Voters in Ohio, said the vote to kill deer will hurt the ecosystem. Hunting, she said, will cause more accidents by deer that try to escape.
Some residents who favored hunting said it would not jeopardize residents because bow shots are made from short distances and hunting would take place in remote areas.
According to the Ohio Department of Wildlife, an estimated 650,000 deer were in the state in 2009 and 250,000 were harvested. Scott Peters, a biologist with the department, said in a telephone interview that the main problems that come with overpopulation of deer are car accidents and landscape damage. Deer caused close to 25,000 car accidents statewide in 2008, he said, with 459 of them in Cuyahoga County.
Bow hunting is legal in neighboring Brecksville and Independence.
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