University of Michigan-Detroit conducts deer cull

DETROIT (AP) — An ongoing deer cull is expected to reduce the deer population Detroit area from 86 to 36, officials said.

The cull that the University of Michigan-Dearborn started last weekend in the 300-acre forest near the school will continue until Sunday.

The program to reduce the deer population in the area is designed to reduce public safety and health risks posed by the deer, from the native woodland ground flora and ground-nesting bird habitat the deer can damage or destroy to the native tree regeneration the deer can impede. The culling is also done to reduce the number of deer struck by automobiles.

The program in which sharpshooters kill the deer falls to the university as part of a agreement that it has with Wayne County, mlive reported.

The sharpshooters are used because, according to officials, other alternatives such as the erecting of additional fencing is too expensive and tranquilizing or relocating the deer are not recommended by the state.

This is the third cull of deer by the university in the last seven years. The others occurred in 2015 and 2018.