Our spirits soared, so to speak, when we saw that an injured great horned owl named Vincent van GHOW was mended back to health and released to the wild this past Monday evening.
The University of Missouri’s Raptor Rehabilitation Project, which suspects the owl was hit by a car, monitored the owl and then transferred it to the project’s rehab center.
But our spirits sank when we heard that, due to a growing deer problem at Oak Hills Golf Center, a special archery hunt is being scheduled for golf course maintenance crew to cull the population. The crew members who will be hunting are experienced hunters, Golf Course Superintendent Bryan Braun said.
The hunt was recommended by the Missouri Department of Conservation.
In a memo to the parks commission, Braun said the whitetail deer population at the public golf course has been increasing over the past few years and is damaging the golf course greens and newly planted trees. Repairing the damage is “time consuming and costly,” he added.
“This is the safest and best way to rid the nuisance at the course,” said JJ Gates, assistant parks director for the Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department. “Staff knows where (the deer are) at and know where the neighborhoods are at.”
Some of the neighbors who live around the golf course wait until the golfers walk around the course as the golfers are heading to the 19th hole in the evenings. The neighbors often admire the beauty of the deer, who also come out around sunset. Sometimes, they don’t have to watch from a far distance, as the deer have become somewhat accustomed to humans.
So, yes, it’s sad to know that the deer that add so much to the beauty of the course will soon be killed.
Some animal rights activists oppose such managed hunts, arguing that the “nuisance” factor isn’t an excuse to kill the wildlife.
But this isn’t blood sport.
Managed hunts can be a responsible way of solving specific problems, such as the ones on the golf course, as well as the general problem of overpopulation.
On the positive side, the meat from the hunt will be donated to the Share the Harvest program, which provides the venison to needy residents.
News Tribune