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Amherst to study concept of farming wild deer for food

By Sandra Tan, The Buffalo News

The Town of Amherst is looking at a new way to control its persistent deer problem — by turning them into a cash crop.

On Monday, the board agreed to have its town departments work with the town and state to evaluate the possibility of having deer penned in on large agricultural properties in Amherst and grown for food.

“It’s treating them like cattle,” said Council Member Barry Weinstein, who sponsored the deer farming resolution.

While some consider the town’s growing deer population to be a pleasant infusion of wildlife in a heavily suburban landscape, others consider deer to be annoying garden destroyers and serious hazards to road safety.

Under Weinstein’s resolution, the town’s Planning and Law departments would work with the county Health Department and state Department of Environmental Conservation to see if deer farming might work in Amherst.

That would likely involve having larger farms in north Amherst put up fencing to contain the deer, and possibly having deer trapped in other parts of the town and relocated to these farms, where they could be managed like other domestic herds grown for their meat, Weinstein said.

“As a physician, I’m not concerned about deer, but deer-vehicle accidents,” Weinstein said. “The deer are a real menace to driving in Amherst. I mean, they’re cuter than mosquitoes, but just as dangerous.”

He added that the state DEC would be able to address the issue of chronic wasting disease potentially affecting the “farmed” deer population.

A report is expected back to the board by Jan. 1.

Weinstein said he came across the idea because, as a member of the Upstate Mandate Relief Commission, he was sent an article on the success of deer farming in New Zealand as an example of how governments can develop creative solutions for difficult problems.

The brief article stated that deer had been pests in New Zealand for 120 years, after they were imported by the English for hunting and subsequently escaped into the wild. Allowing farming communities to catch and raise the deer solved the country’s deer problem at no cost to the government.

New Zealand now supplies 40 percent of the world market’s venison, the article stated.

Aside from creating a study group for the deer farming idea, Weinstein’s resolution also reactivates the town’s long-dormant Deer Management Committee.

In other news, the board:

• Approved a resolution by Council Members Guy Marlette and Mark Manna to institute a sidewalk plowing “pilot program” that would have the town plow some sections of Maple Road and Harlem Road for a short trial period to see how much it would cost the Highway Department to do it on a regular basis.

Sidewalk clearing along major thoroughfares has been a major issue for the board each year. Town leaders and administrators agree that homeowners along major arteries face a serious challenge in keeping their sidewalks clear when plows come by and throw heavy snow and ice on the sidewalks in front of their yards every few hours.

Some expressed concerns about exposing the town to additional costs and liabilities, and questioned the viability of creating specially taxed sidewalk districts. Others expressed the existing liability the town may face if it continues to take no action.

• Voted to give back $314,373 to various town departments after initially taking the money away in an effort to save the town money.

The board had voted on Nov. 18 to move $877,383 out of town department budgets and into a board-controlled contingency account to forestall an anticipated year-end “spending spree” by department heads.

Department heads with the Recreation, Highway and Youth departments protested that some of the money that is supposed to be transferred out of their accounts has already been spent.

After the comptroller met with the department heads, she determined $314,373 had already been committed, but the departments had failed to alert her office.

Ultimately, $563,011 was moved to the town’s contingency accounts.