Griffy Lake Deer Cull Cancelled

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 6, 2015

For more information, please contact:
Mick Renneisen, Administrator, City of Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department, (812) 349-3711 or [renneism@bloomington.in.gov|renneism@bloomington.in.gov]

Bloomington, Ind. - Bloomington Parks and Recreation, acting on the advice of professional deer herd management contractor White Buffalo, Inc., has opted to cancel the deer cull scheduled to take place at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve this winter.

According to Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department Administrator Mick Renneisen, an abundant acorn crop, coupled with a mild winter and other available food sources, has resulted in deer not being hungry enough to utilize baited sites in a way needed to efficiently reduce their numbers.

"Conditions are not optimal for us to effectively reach our goal of removing deer from the nature preserve to protect the plant life there," Renneisen said. "Based on the professional opinion of our contractor, we made the decision not to implement the deer reduction activity at this time."

Parks and Recreation staff have photographed and found evidence of deer throughout the preserve, indicating that deer are feeding at Griffy Lake but are not strongly attracted to baited sites.

The Special Use Deer Permit awarded by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to conduct the deer reduction cull expires on Feb. 28.

Renneisen said the Parks and Recreation Department will continue to add to its baseline data by monitoring plant sizes and species, and the impact of deer browse, in Griffy Lake Nature Preserve throughout the coming year.

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