EDISON — Come January, addressing the deer population will be on the agenda for Edison officials.
Councilman Robert Diehl said he sees deer, dead or alive, nearly every day that he drives through the township.
“I think this is something we need to address and look at and see what resources are available to us before it becomes deadly,” he said.
During a discussion at the Township Council work session on Dec. 4, Diehl said it has already become deadly in neighboring communities.
He cited deer as the cause of a fatal accident in neighboring Franklin Township, Mercer County, which claimed the life of a 63-year-old man when the deer crashed through the windshield of the man’s vehicle on Nov. 29.
“It’s unfortunate … my heart goes out to that gentlemen,” he said.
Jay Elliot, director of the Edison Department of Health and Human Services, said he can follow up with individuals from the New York City’s Department of Parks and Recreation, who have been combating a deer population on Staten Island.
“Pretty much [the individuals from the New York City’s Department of Parks and Recreation] are the predominant ones doing [assessments] throughout New Jersey,” he said, adding that the individuals are willing to come to the township and do a presentation before the council.
Elliot said the presentation will be a lengthy process. He said in his discussions with the officials in New York, he learned that programs have to be tailored to each distinct area.
They compared our georgraphy to Princeton in Mercer County.
Elliot said the New York officials are willing to come in to do the leg work and develop a plan.
The plan then has to be approved by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection [NJDEP] Division of Fish and Wildlife to make sure culling the deer population is done in the most sound and humane way, Elliot said.
Elliot has said municipalities like Princeton have done sterilization activities, which is a little less intrusive and naturally reduces the deer population.
