The Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department has canceled the deer cull at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve. The contracted deer management service White Buffalo Inc. says the conditions weren't right for an efficient deer cull.
Parks administrator Mick Renneisen says with such a bountiful amount of natural food, the deer weren't lured to the bait sites White Buffalo had set up.
"That is in a banner acorn crop and a very mild winter the deer aren't moving to the sites where it would be most effective and efficient to do the culling activity," Renneisen says.
The cull had been protested in months leading up to the deer kill and was divisive among residents from the start.
"Bloomington Advocates for Nonviolent and Innovative Deer Stewardship (BANIDS) is thrilled that this misguided, costly and divisive deer kill plan has been called off," Sandra Shapshay, president of BANIDS, said in a statement. "The fact that a company like White Buffalo could not bait and kill approximately 100 deer in Griffy--despite having four months to do so--really vindicates the opposition to this kill."
The deer cull was approved in May by the city council and would have allowed White Buffalo to kill the deer over a nine-day period sometime this winter.
There won't be another attempt at a deer cull at Griffy Lake for this year. Renneisen says the process would have to be done over again to get the Special Use Deer Permit from the State Department of Natural Resources.
The permit to conduct the cull expires at the end of February.