A group of around 60 people met Sunday afternoon at the Coughlin Center to organize around the City's recent decision to bring in sharp shooters to kill deer in the area around Vulcan Quarry on the south side of town.
City council member Tony Palmeri, who was the only councilor to vote against the deer kill, spoke to the crowd about the "facts" that the council was provided that seem to contradict the case made for the deer kill. For example, a survey sent to residents in the area indicated that most of the residents had no problems with the deer, and didn't want any thing done about the deer. In regards to car-deer accidents, information the police department provided to the council just two days ago (long after they voted to kill the deer) showed only 12 car-deer accidents in that area in the last 3 years, and the number each year has been declining, indicating that the car-deer accident situation is already better than it was. There were only 2 car-deer accidents in that area in 2008. Car-deer accidents in other parts of the city are much higher.
Discussion back and forth on these issues and more sent the meeting past two hours, but the general concensus seemed to be that the city acted two fast to bring in sharp shooters and that the city should have taken the time to explore other options. In fact, the city can still stop the deer kill and take the time to make a more informed decision.
There is an agenda item on the Tuesday Council meeting that the public will have an opportunity to comment on. The "save the deer" people intend to be there. Meanwhile there will likely be another deer-kill scheduled soon, but this time they probably aren't going to give people very much notice to organize, likely same day notice. Hey - maybe Tuesday when the "save the deer" people are conveniently at the Council meeting.
Personally I think the deer kill is unnecessary, costly, creates more public safety issues than it solves, and will do nothing to alleviate the "complainers" that initiated this.
Also present at the meeting were candidates Bob Poeschl and Travis Swanson, who indicated their support for saving the deer. The primary election for Oshkosh Common Council is Feb. 17, you can vote for three candidates.
