What???!!!???

One of the things I really love about the small city I live in, just 6 miles south of Pittsburgh, is the fact that I often see deer and wild turkeys roaming the streets and lawns of the tree-lined, quiet streets. I had a wonderful early morning walk last summer and followed a deer up one street, stopped and watched her watch me, steam coming out of her nostrils.

However, many think of deer as a nuisance. I know that they cause car accidents, and sometimes serious ones. Most of the problem is that they eat prized hostas and tomato plants. The municipality decided something had to be done to control the population. My understanding was that trained sharp shooters were coming in to cull the population at some local parks and at the city golf course, only shooting in the middle of the night and with bows, not guns.

Well, it has just come to my attention (through BlogLebo) that residents can apply for a permit from the USDA to shoot deer in their own yard. Mind you, Mt. Lebanon, where I live, is completely residential, houses on small lots, most people living within 200 feet of neighbors. How is this okay? You can see here that there have been some problems...I just can't help but feel outraged and disgusted that this is happening.