Tega Cay spends quarter million dollars to sterilize out-of-control deer population
Tega Cay has finished sterilizing 200 deer in its ongoing plan aimed at cutting the population that has been out of control for years.
The sterilization of 200 deer came with a price tag of more than a quarter million dollars — more than $1,300 per deer sterilized. And making that many female deer unable to have fawns may not be the end of the solution in this city of around 13,000 people along Lake Wylie in northern York County close to Charlotte.
Estimates of the city’s deer population range from at least 800 deer to as many as 1,200, according to count estimates.
Tega Cay received permission for federal government sharpshooters to cull up to 160 deer earlier this year, but marksmen killed less than a quarter of that amount, Tega Cay Mayor Chris Gray said.
The city council then decided in August to contract with nonprofit conservation deer management company White Buffalo to handle the sterilization of the 200 female deer that went on from Oct. 21 through last week.
The city spent $268,677 on sterilization, budget figures show.
City council would have to vote to spend more money to do another round of sterilization next year, Tega Cay spokesperson Gretchen Kelly said.
The sterilization and culling hybrid approach will get the deer population down after the city grappled with it for at least a decade, Gray said.
Residents complained for years about the impact on traffic, pets, plants and the waste animals leave behind. A city survey showed more than 100 residents had traffic collisions involving deer in the past three years.
City leaders and wildlife advocates debated for years to find a humane way of lowering the population. Culling came first. Then sterilization started.
Sterilization happened at night. Animals were shot with a tranquilizer then treated by a veterinarian at a staging area before the female deer were spayed. The deer were then returned to where they were taken from, according to Gray and a report to the city from White Buffalo.
All tagged animals have a reflective ribbon on them, and 20 of those have radio collars so they can be tracked to look at survival rates.
“The goal is a healthier herd,” Gray said.
The city has S.C. Department of Natural Resources approval to cull another 80 deer through the winter, officials said. The meat from the animals is donated to the Catawba Indian Nation, Gray said.
This story was originally published November 14, 2024 at 12:22 PM with the headline "Tega Cay spends quarter million dollars to sterilize out-of-control deer population."
