Deer in Shawnee Mission Park (live, safety, moving)

[Versatile]

Most likely by tomorrow there will be quite a few deer less in the park.I can understand that there are differences in opinions. BUT: I just heard on the news that the man leading the big protest against it stated that he will hold the council members or whatever personally responsible if any human companion animals get killed or injured by the sharpshooters.
This guy "imo" is way over the top. I think he is trying to demonize the sharpshooters. Seems to me that it would be very hard to confuse a dog or cat from a deer!

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Versatile

Most likely by tomorrow there will be quite a few deer less in the park.I can understand that there are differences in opinions. BUT: I just heard on the news that the man leading the big protest against it stated that he will hold the council members or whatever personally responsible if any human companion animals get killed or injured by the sharpshooters.
This guy "imo" is way over the top. I think he is trying to demonize the sharpshooters. Seems to me that it would be very hard to confuse a dog or cat from a deer!

I agree that a controlled hunt is a good idea within the park as overpopulation of deer is an increasing concern. However, the main problem stems from way too much suburban development, sprawl, and loss of habitat in Johnson County over a long period of time. This has resulted in a concentration of deer in the park itself as other habitat has been paved over. Even though many like to claim JOCO is "master planned" they did a horrible job of conserving lands and educating land owners to pursue conservation easments to protect land from being subdivided. Conservation easments allow the land to continue to be farmed or ranched as to be self-supporting. I think many of the landowners saw big $$$$ signs when the developers came knocking, unfortunately. These are the consequences.

[TinaMcG]

Trained sharpshooters won't mistake a dog or human for a deer, but some amateur hunters might, especially if they see a fast moving brown colored dog running around at dusk or after dark. When my parents lived in the U.P. (Michigan), they never let their labrador retriever our unattended during hunting season. There's a reason hunters wear "safety orange" -- so they don't shoot each other.

[Versatile]

A spotlight will be a great tool for the culling.

[OneKC]

The Pitch had a story on this outrageous protestor. I'm a big animal lover and an environmentalist, but I agree with JoCo Parks and Rec on this one. Gotta thin the herd. The bigger problem that these protestors should be concentrating on, is like GraniteStater mentioned, the sprawl that has put McMansions out in the natural habitat of these beautiful animals. And now OP has annexed fifteen square miles in south JOCO out to 199th - so goodbye to those woods and farmland.