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Letters: How Much is a Life Worth? |
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by Elisabeth Hegarty
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Friday, 31 August 2007 |
 I read with sadness your article entitled "Costing the Village Deer".
Overall, I have been following the media information about the "deer crisis" for quite some time.
A month or two ago, there was a report of a woman who attended the Board meeting and complained about the damage the deer did to her shrubs and bushes. There was a later report by one of the Village officials cautioning that the deer might possibly eat the new trees planted in the Village along Triphammer Road. Your most recent article mentions a man who advised the Village officials to "sic 'em". Perhaps someone out there ought to "sic him, not 'em". After reading his comment, I wonder whose life is more valuable, a deer's life or his life.
To all of these people who are ready to kill the deer rather than solve the problem, I say, "Well, ain't that a shame!" I am ashamed that my neighbor and Village officials are ready to kill first and ask questions later.
Notwithstanding that the deer were here long before most of the residents, local residents are taking the proverbial cowboys and Indians approach and are lined up in droves to take lives in a barbaric way rather than find a civilized solution. I, too, am a victim of deer damage. A deer ate an entire row of string beans in my vegetable garden. I put up a fence. End of problem. Is it somewhat unsightly? Yes, but is the lack of aesthetics around my garden worth a life?
Since most of them have lived here just about forever to start with, the "Village Fathers" of all people should be sufficiently familiar with and be able to select trees to be planted in the finally upgraded Village area that deer would not want to eat. Ditto the woman who attended the Board meeting. There are many plants that deer do not eat. There are fences that people may install to protect their vegetable gardens, etc. from not only deer, but rabbits, chipmunks, etc.
So, the foliage destruction problem can be rapidly and inexpensively solved for anyone who visits a local nursery and asks the proprietor for deer-resistent plants and wire fencing.
The second and more difficult problem re the deer is the hazard that both deer and drivers face when a deer is hit on the roard. A partial answer to that problem is to reduce the speed on Triphammer Road and ENFORCE it. People who live near Triphammer Road consistently see drivers speeding at 70 mph in a 55 zone, which 55 mph zone is already much higher than realistic in light of the buildup of businesses and homes along Triphammer Road, especially past the Village Center area. We see countless rabbits, chipmunks, opossums, skunks, beavers, frogs and other wildlife dead on the road, as well as an occasional deer. Reduce the speed limit - save our wildlife.
Finally, I applaud Mr. DeLeo for his comments about humane deer population controls. To the gentleman who dismissed the idea of humane deer population control out of hand, citing an opinion from Cornell, why not check out what is being done in areas other than Tompkins County to humanely control the deer population? If, according to the school building program which has recently been approved in Ithaca, taxpayers are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to build rest rooms on the athletic field of Ithaca High School so coddled children do not have to walk the few feet into the school building to use a bathroom and interrupt their after school sports process by a minute or so, we should be able to find some money to further research more humane deer population control methods.
I ask the residents of this area - "How much is a life worth to you - a rabbit life, a deer life, a chipmunk life?
Elisabeth Hegarty
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