Hastings Seeks Volunteers for Deer Sterilization Experiment

While Hastings-on-Hudson waits to see if the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) will allow them to sterilize local deer with immunocontraception darts­—the Village isn’t wasting time preparing for its potential experiment.

“It’s a scientifically rigorous experiment,” said Mayor Peter Swiderski, at a recent presentation on the deer population control efforts. “We’re collecting all sorts of metrics we want to track.” 

The Village has been exploring methods to control its deer population over the last few years as some residents complain that the animals cause car accidents, property damage, Lyme disease and forest degradation.

The Village initially sought a permit to “net and bolt,” the process of catching deer and killing them by shooting a bolt gun through their heads. There was public outcry over the methodology and the Village dropped the idea of a cull for a non-lethal means of population control.

The Village plans to use a dart gun to inject an immuncontraceptive vaccine called porcine zona pellucida (PZP), which is derived from pig ovaries and creates antibodies that surrounds the female’s egg and prevents sperm from attaching. Dr. Allan Rutberg the director for the Centers for Animal and Public Policy at Tufts University has conducted several studies on deer immunocontraception and is assisting the Village with its study.  

The plan is to set up areas in Hillside Woods and possible Andrus on Hudson where deer will be lured and shot with anesthetic, tagged, then darted with vaccine. At the beginning of the study, professionals at Tufts who would do the darting then train village volunteers to do it. This would have to be done over a four to five year period.

“The question is how easy is it going to be to get darts into deer and the other issue is how much movement there is in and out of Hastings,” said Rutberg.

While other studies using immunocontraception to control deer populations have been conducted over the last few decades, Hastings-on-Hudson’s experiment will be unique since the Village is a highly dense suburban area and will measure the effects the deer population has on the community, such as whether car accidents, Lyme disease, property damage and forest degradation are reduced as the deer population is reduced.

Volunteers are needed to track deer sightings and study deer consumption of vegetation. The police department will keep track of deer related car accidents and volunteers will compile data from the department's information. Swiderski said there are about 10 and 14 deer related car accidents per year in the village.

“There’s nothing quite like this experiment anywhere in the country,” said Swiderski. 

About 30 volunteer households will be surveyed for deer related property damage over the duration of the study, which include two years without using the immunocontraception as a baseline.  Ticks will be tested to see if they carry Lyme disease, to identify the prevelance of the disease in the local ticks. In the long term, volunteers will be needed to control access in and out of the area where darting will take place and to learn how to properly dart the deer.

Those who would like to volunteer can reach out to the mayor at mayor@hastingsgov.org. 

Each deer will cost between $350 and $500 to dart. Darting will have to be administered once every two years, but less than that overtime. The first year is expected to cost the Village about $12,000. The Village will be receiving a grant from an animal rights organization to help fund the cost of the experiment. At the end of the five years, the Village will assess whether the experiment was successful in reducing the deer population and the impacts associated with it.

Rutberg said it is expected that the deer population will be reduced by 5 percent the first year and 25 percent the second year. 

Swiderkski said he is hopeful the NYSDEC will grant the Village its permit, however he did say he would resort to applying “political pressure” if negotiations fell through.

Click on the attached PDF’s for more information.

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