Deer culling begins in Parma
PARMA, Ohio (WJW) — Police sharpshooters are expected to begin culling deer at multiple locations in the city on Friday evening.
City council members recently approved an ordinance allowing police officers to thin the number of animals roaming the city, which many residents consider to be a nuisance.
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On Friday evening, teams of four officers will be at each of the three sites, all of them wooded areas near Pleasant Valley Road, according to Parma Police Chief Joseph Bobak: one south of the road and north of Sprague Road; another north of the road near Royalview Drive; and a third between Ridge and York roads.
It’s expected to take place between 4 p.m. and 11 p.m., according to the city police website.
Residents shouldn’t expect to hear loud gunfire, since the SWAT-trained sharpshooters will be using rifles fitted with suppressors, he said. They’re also expected to be shooting from no farther than 75 feet away.
Though the wooded areas are city-owned, residents should stay away from them on Friday. Supporting officers at each site will be using binoculars and night-vision goggles to watch for walkers and “shut the whole process down and move” if necessary for safety, Bobak said.
City police plan to give the harvested deer to city residents who signed up ahead of time. As of Wednesday, more than 250 people had applied, Bobak said. Those residents who signed up should expect a call from police and be ready to pick up their carcass within 30 to 40 minutes.
In a resident survey, nearly two-thirds of respondents said they believed the city’s deer population needed to be decreased, Safety Director Bob Coury told FOX 8 News in August, before the ordinance was approved.
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Officials believe there are more than 1,000 deer living in the city.
“Residents file complaints about deer in their yards, deer in the streets,” Coury said at the time.
Bobak said the department plans to do deer culling “a couple times a week.” The department’s deer harvesting license, granted by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, allows it to take up to 95 deer this season, and it can apply for a higher cap if necessary, he said.
In the future, deer culling officers may consider posting up at two locations near the former Parmadale campus and at Nike Park, Bobak said.
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