Cooking Goddess
Chef Extraordinaire
^This^ What the anti-culling people don't understand is that when you eliminate a critter's natural predator, you must then assume the responsibility of predator....We had a severe overpopulation of deer in one of our Metro Parks nearby. You could see the deer behind the high fence as you went by......the animals were absolutely pathetic looking. Not only were they malnourished they were also showing the effects of in-breeding. Of course, there was a huge outcry from the public when professional hunters were brought in to cull the herd. It may seem cruel and cold hearted but it is far more humane than to let them starve to death during a cold hard winter.
We were still living in OH when the Metroparks started their annual culling program. I think the parks (and, subsequently, the Cuyahoga Valley National Park) have gone about this in a responsible manner: a managed, annual hunt by professional sharpshooters, donating the harvest to the food bank). The results are staggering when you realize so far the food bank has benefited by the donation of nearly 1/4 ton of lean protein during this program.
Meanwhile, in a more densely populated area, Massachusetts, after over a century of no hunt, has "wisely" granted licensed hunters permission to go out and hunt. Hopefully, the state is better at managing the number of hunters allowed into a small area better than they have managed the population of the deer herd.