Hastings to Begin Deer 'Darting' Project Feb. 2

Hastings-on-Hudson will begin conducting its second Deer Immunocontraception Study on Feb. 2, Mayor Peter Swiderski announced in an email to residents Sunday.

As preparations begin, the village is seeking the permission from residents to allow professional teams to come onto private property to carry out the process. Below is the email from Swiderski containing information on the program:

Fellow Residents,

We have begun the second year of the Deer Immunocontraception Study. The professional deer darting teams from the Humane Society (who will be outfitted in orange vests clearly identifying them as such) will be starting their work on February 2nd. The project, co-sponsored by the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson, the Humane Society and the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, is seeking to successfully dart, immunize, and tag at least 40 deer this year. The teams hope to carry out much of the darting in the vicinity of feeding stations which are largely located in parks. However, if deer are observed elsewhere, the teams will seek to dart opportunistically where they can.

We are seeking your permission to dart deer if they are observed on your property. The darting teams, professionals from the Humane Society, are following very conservative safety protocols and will typically dart deer within less than forty feet distance because they require a good shot to the rump. If you provide permission, a small brightly colored surveyors flag will be placed at the front edge of your property. The teams will only dart deer on properties where they see a flag. If you have a flag from last year, it will be ignored. We must ask your permission again.

You can provide permission in one of two ways:

1) You can go to this web address and fill in the short form that should take no more than two minutes.

2) You can send an email to: permission@hastingsgov.org with the following text:

“I hereby grant the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson and the Humane Society Deer Tracking team legal permission to dart deer on my property. My name is ( ) and my property address is ( ). (You can also provide, if you wish, when you typically see deer on your property – morning, afternoon, evening.)“

Please ask your neighbors to do so as well. Students may also be knocking on your door and asking for permission in the next week. Please tell them if you have provided permission via one of the two approaches above.

(If you want to specifically deny permission, please feel free to send us an email to permission@hastingsgov.org stating that clearly.)

Thank you for your attention. Granting permission will only take two minutes. And it will help increase our chance of success in this effort.

Sincerely,

Peter Swiderski

Mayor

mayor@hastingsgov.org

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