Posted on 07/28/2007 5:04:07 PM PDT by Sybeck1
Whispers started with the first few gunshots.
Neighborhood rumors had it that a cotton farmer who leases land from the Chickasaw Basin Authority near the Wolf River was shooting deer on the property.
So when residents discovered nearly 40 of the animals had been killed and left to rot in the surrounding woods, they reacted with horror.
"I don't like to see (deer) slaughtered, and that's what happened down there in these cotton fields," said Brenda Flanagan, a nearby resident. "To me it's inhumane. ... What's gone is gone, and I would hate to see that ever happen again."
Angry neighbors also cited safety concerns.
"Our first concern was the brutality of killing those animals," said Arthur Wolff, who owns property on Bethany Road, a shady street that dead ends into the sprawling cotton farm. "Then there was the safety issue of shooting deer so close to people's homes."
Wolff, along with other angry residents, called officials from the Chickasaw Basin Authority (CBA), a state agency dealing with flood-control and drainage in a three-county area. The CBA owns a 600-acre patch of land near Collierville's annexation reserve in unincorporated Shelby County.
It turns out the farmer had been given permission by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) to kill deer that were destroying his crops.
But as a result of the community's response, CBA's chairman, Charles Perkins, said they became aware of the safety issues and pulled the permit until further notice.
"We just thought it was a health concern and a safety concern because of the populated area being so close in proximity," Perkins said. "We put a stop to it."
Farmer David Ciarloni, who leases the 200 acres, is not happy about the decision, but he's going to wait to see what can be negotiated with the CBA.
He said the deer population has escalated in recent years, wreaking havoc on his cotton crop.
"It's not going to stop, and it will make this farm impossible to farm in the future," he said.
Although Ciarloni won't know the extent of damage until harvest time, he's estimated 30 percent to 50 percent crop damage. "It's an astronomical increase from last year."
Ciarloni grew frustrated with the deer problem a few months ago and contacted his landlord, the CBA, for a permit to kill the deer.
Ted Fox, the county's public works director who doubles as the CBA's executive director, said he sent a county employee out to examine the damage.
The employee corroborated Ciarloni's story -- that deer had eaten away at about 30 percent of the crop. Fox contacted the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, which issues hunting permits.
Gary Cook, TWRA's regional manager in West Tennessee, said state legislation allows farmers to receive hunting permits if they can prove significant crop loss. Called a "depredation permit," this license allows farmers to kill wildlife such as birds or deer that are causing damage to public or private property.
"It happens all over Tennessee on a regular basis," Cook said. "This is not something rare or unusual."
Each year, TWRA issues anywhere from about three to 10 permits to landowners in Shelby County. Last year, it issued 11.
A permit was issued to the CBA after TWRA officers sent to Ciarloni's farm noted significant crop loss and 81 deer.
Ronnie Shannon of TWRA said that contrary to popular belief, deer have been known to eat newer strains of cotton, called "Roundup Ready" cotton that has a salty taste. And because there's limited hunting in the county, the deer population has grown in recent years.
TWRA officials relayed this information to the CBA board, which voted unanimously to thin the herd during a two-week period.
Perkins, CBA's chairman, said the TWRA warden showed up to the meeting in uniform and with his rifle, leading him to assume that the officer -- not Ciarloni -- would be handling the problem.
"We thought the TWRA was going to handle the eradication," Perkins said. "We thought they were going to be onsite to supervise or do it themselves."
He was surprised to discover Ciarloni had taken a shotgun and killed the animals himself.
Perkins also discovered their bodies had been dragged off the cotton fields and into nearby wooded areas to rot.
"That concerned us because of the scavengers, the possibility of the coyotes moving into that area, the buzzards and the smell," Perkins said. "It was a general health concern."
Fox called Ciarloni and put a hold on the permit. The CBA held a meeting Tuesday to discuss the issue.
During that session, the CBA heard testimony from Wolff and other concerned residents, who complained of safety and health risks for the surrounding residents.
Perkins said the license will be pulled until further notice, but something will have to be done eventually to deal with the deer population.
And of the system chosen to hunt the deer, he said residents probably won't be happy about it.
"I personally am leaning toward a limited hunting situation although I suspect neighbors won't like that," he said. "This is a serious problem in Shelby County."
-- Alex Doniach: 529-5231
Copyright 2007, commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN. All Rights Reserved.
Tree rats are just as bad. I kill everyone I can get my sites on.
I have heard that there are states that will allow a farmer to kill deer that are destroying crops, but he’s not allowed to process it once he kills it. In fact, no one’s allowed to have it.
What a waste.
I wonder if there is such a requirement in Tenn.
Bill the libs for the testing...Someone has to be happy to have a meal of something less than veal.
Since deer aren't human wouldn't it be "indeerane"?
Naah, just "inane"... /grin
Agreed, if he was able to go out and kill forty deer with a shotgun, there definitely were too many deer.
No such thing! My sister and brother-in-law have a summer home in northern michigan in a very upscale area and they have literally lost thousands of dollars of landscaping due to the dear population which can not be hunted in that resort area. As a result, he has put up motion detectors around the house which emit a high pitch sound, he has installed an electric fence around select plantings, and all this hasn't done one damn thing to deter these antlered rats.........
And for the record, here in Michigan there are over 60,000 deer/vehicle accidents a year and the numbers are increasing.........
The damn things are everywhere........Just like all those products that you can spray on your plants to deter rabbits, none of that crap works because they don't have taste buds..........
Much ado about nothing. The excessive deer population is a problem and at least someone is trying to take care of the situation. The coyote population is also a real problem in this area. The farmers in my area don’t even plant some fields because if they do, the yield is sparse do to the damage done by the deer.
Well-managed hunting provides for a sensible thinning of the herd...this is ham-handed game management at its bureaucratic worst.
The Walt Disney Bambi effect. People don’t look on deer as pests but as noble creatures of the forest. Meanwhile they multiply with no natural controls and either starve or destroy crops.
Bambi must die!
One guy shooting 40 deer tells me those folks have a problem and it ain't with the shooter...........
“Deer now are a nuisance in some areas. Same with Nonmigratory Canadian Geese.”
My town had a canadian geese problem. They were everywhere destroying lawns, golf courses and ruining car finishes with that crap of theirs.
My town tried to get rid of the canadian geese. We had horns that went off every couple of minutes. People complained. We destroyed the eggs. People complained. We implemented nazi tactics and put them in trucks and gassed them. People complained. We sprayed lawns and put mesh over the water on golf courses so they couldn’t land. People complained.
Then everyone came in and complained that there were canadian geese all over the place and we should do something.
I just laughed.
boy, the caption for the Kerry-Edwards picture should have Edwards saying “My butt is really sore”...
Deer are pests, with a bone structure like Paris Hilton. Wild pigs are pests too, but with a bone structure more like Rosie O’Donnell.
But pigs are made of tasty spam...
Usually food banks won’t take wild animals. Parasites would make them liable.
This is due to Americans being weaned away from a hunting culture to one dependent on grocery stores. I recall rifles regularly lined up along the back wall of the church for the after-service group hunts. Now most Americans are so wussified they blanch at the very idea of “killing Bambi”.
Not enough people are hunting to keep the deer population down - especially since their natural predators have been practically wiped out. We have the responsibility to make up for those predators absence.
Corn oil on eggs, works every time.
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