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BY HANNAH PURKEY

In print | Published January 31, 2008

In response to the overpopulation of white-tailed deer in the Crum Woods, the Board of Managers is moving forward with a consultant’s recommendation to hire sharpshooters to eliminate the deer abundance and asking for the campus community’s opinion.

At the Board of Managers meeting in December, Byron Shissler, president of Natural Resource Consultants, was hired to look into different approaches to deer population control. Shissler presented his findings and suggested the use of sharpshooters as the most efficient and effective option, according to Vice President Maurice Eldridge ’61.

“[The overpopulation of deer] is an actual problem that has negative consequences and we have to address them somehow,” Eldridge said.

In 2001, Provost Jennie Keith formed the Crum Woods Stewardship Committee in part to look into the deer situation in the Crum as well as to “create a protection, restoration and stewardship plan for the Crum Woods,” according to the committee’s Web site. The deer overabundance was officially addressed in a study by the Natural Lands Trust and Continental Conservation in 2003.

In an effort to monitor the ecological impact of the deer population on the woods, the committee hired Shissler, an expert on deer population management according to Eldridge, to produce a report on the current state of the deer population as well as possible remedies to the problem. Once compiled, the results of Shissler’s research were presented to the Board of Managers.

“[Shissler] went through all of the alternatives and has recommended that sharpshooters and bait sites be used,” Eldridge said. Other alternatives discussed include contraception options, fencing, trap and release approaches as well as recreational hunting. According to Eldridge, the board dismissed these options as inefficient or forbidden by Pennsylvania law.

“The killing is as accurate and clean as can be,” Eldridge said of the use of sharpshooters. This option, if implemented, would take place over winter break of the 2008-2009 school year to ensure the presence of few people on campus. All of the deer suitable for human consumption would then be donated to a food bank or to needy families, in accordance with regulation 147.326 of the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

The committee’s next step is to bring the suggestion to the students and faculty members. “The committee is going to have some public opportunities for the campus community to comment on the recommendation [for sharpshooters],” Eldridge said. Taking into account this feedback, the Board will make a final decision at the May Board meeting.

Eldridge does not know what to expect from the student reaction to the school’s recommendation, but hopes that students can see that despite the harshness, this suggestion is the most humane option. “I hope that students will see us as being reasonable and not unwontedly inhumane,” Eldridge said.

Many students can understand Eldridge’s position. “It seems to be reasonable to keep the deer population under control,” Eric Christiansen ‘09 said. "Bringing in sharpshooters to shoot them individually might be a little expensive, but I’m not morally outraged." If offsite contractors are used, the price can vary from $100 to $350 per deer, according to Shissler’s report.

Other students are less sure of the method Shissler is recommending. “I don’t like the idea of directly killing the deer,” Zebi Brown ’09 said. “But I know other methods might not be as effective.”

Sharpshooters have been used to successfully lower the deer population in the Philadelphia area with no incidents, according to Eldridge. Before sharpshooters can be used here, though, the college must obtain jurisdiction from the borough of Swarthmore and another adjacent township. Eldridge said that there are two things that must happen first. “One would be to amend [township] ordinances about firearms to permit them for a specific activity such as deer culling,” Eldridge said. “And second, on our behalf, apply to the game commission of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania for a permit.”

Eldridge said that dates will soon be announced for a series of meetings at which students and staff will have the opportunity to express concerns about the potential use of sharpshooters.

The Crum Woods Stewardship committee also will be coming out with a summary of Shissler’s position and the current state of the deer situation so students can be informed and involved throughout the process.

“Students or others may feel very strongly about it and express that,” Eldridge said. “And we want to hear it.”

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