Pittsburgh hopes to cull at least 30 deer during controlled hunts
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- According to experts, deer are destroying some of our forests, including in city parks. This is one of the reasons the city started a deer cull.
Frick Park and Riverview Park are the two locations. On Saturday hunters took down four deer. The hope is to take at least 30 over the next few months.
When taking a walk through the woods in our area, it may look like they are doing well, but that isn't the case.
"We have deer that are very overabundant and not really afraid of much, so they will pretty much go anywhere they want and eat whatever they want," said Dr. Ryan Utz, an ecology associate professor at Chatham University.
And that is ruining some of the plants. According to the Parks Conservancy, an out-of-control deer population can damage the ability of a forest to regenerate, which has trickle down effects.
"They're doing the soil erosions. They're causing landslides," said Mayor Ed Gainey's spokesperson, Olga George.
The city says the cull is to take the population to a sustainable level. Right now, ecologists say deer in our area have no real predators except us so there are hundreds to thousands just in the city's parks. Dr. Utz said they are decimating some local plants, "until all that is left are the species the deer will simply not touch. And very often those are the invasive species that aren't native to the area."
At Chatham University's North Hills campus, there is a fenced-off area and the rest of the forest. It shows the damage deer leave in wooded area. The area the deer can't get is more vibrant and diverse than the rest of the woods.
"Inside, there's a lot of plants that are thriving," Dr. Utz said.
"We're also trying to save Bambi's family, because if there's too many deer and not enough food, what happens? The deer do starve," George said.
The city said while the goal is 30 deer, they hope more can be taken to prevent more damage to the parks. They added that no injuries were reported during the hunting. Dr. Utz would like to see more hunting, as it could be useful across our area to protect more forests.