Parma to continue deer management program after successful two years

PARMA, Ohio — Two years into its culling program, Parma sharpshooters have killed 367 deer in the community.

Prior to the city starting its third fall-winter program, which will take place at various locations throughout the community, the city is required to complete an Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) community survey regarding deer safety in the area.

“Public safety is always one of our top priorities, and Parma’s deer-culling program has proven to be another important tool for protecting our residents,” Mayor Tim DeGeeter said.

“In its first year, we saw a decrease in car-deer accidents and property damage — real improvements that directly impact the safety and quality of life in our neighborhoods.

“By continuing this program, and ensuring it is carried out discreetly and professionally by our trained police officers, we’re taking proactive steps to keep Parma’s families safe on our roads and in our community.”

ODNR annually grants permits for deer kills from Oct. 1 through March 31 for the thinning of the white-tailed deer population.

“When we initiated this program, we worked with ODNR to come up with a five-year plan that was based on a (deer) population study and citizen survey,” said Parma Police Lt. Nathan Savetski, the SWAT Team commander who runs the deer culling program.

“Each year has a goal set forth. Last year, our goal was 225 deer and we culled 217.”

This year, the city is going to request 200 permits, which Savetski said is in accordance with the ODNR deer management plan.

Between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., two two-man teams — including a SWAT marksman and a spotter armed with binoculars — rotate through different locations in the city.

Culling sites previously included two areas at the former Parmadale east of State Road and on West Creek Conservancy land off Pleasant Valley Road between York and Ridge roads.

There were also city properties near the intersection of Ridge and Pleasant Valley roads, as well as between Sprague and Pleasant Valley roads east of Ridge Road.

Nike Site Park and Ridgewood Golf Course were also used.

“We’re going to utilize the same locations, except we’re not at Parmadale anymore since the Metroparks took that over,” he said.

“We put the locations on a little bit of a rotation, so that we’re not showing up to a dry hole.

“We had the most success at the Pleasant Valley address, the golf course and the Channel 5 tower off State Road.”

With safety as a concern, the deer culling program isn’t as concentrated in the densely populated northern portion of the city.

“We did utilize an area off the end of Brookdale Avenue last year, which is a city-owned property,” he said.

“There’s also a private property we utilized at Pearl and Snow roads. That’s really as far north as we got.”

As far as the culled deer, the city created an online venison pickup list for residents to take the carcasses.

Last year, 348 residents signed up.

A new online sign-up sheet will be posted this fall.

The impact of two years of deer culling has been positive, with the city to date having 19 deer vs. motor vehicle accidents.

That’s down from two years ago, when the Parma Police Department reported 83 incidents to ODNR.

Savetski said that anecdotally, he has heard that fewer deer are observed in the community.

“Talking to the council people, their residents are more than pleased,” he said.

“I’m consistently being asked if we’re continuing with the program, because they’ve noticed a distinct difference.

“If you just drive through the south end of the city — areas where you would have deer consistently along the side of the road or in the middle of the road — you’re not seeing as many.

“I would bet that trend will continue.”

Looking ahead to the end of the ODNR five-year-plan, Savetski said the city will reevaluate.

“ODNR will do another study and we’ll see where our deer population numbers are at,” he said.

“Then we’ll take a look at the citizen survey — what the consensus is amongst the residents — and kind of go from there.”

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