Letters to the Editor

Metroparks forum on hunting a must

A whitetail deer fawn swats away a mosquito with an ear while foraging at one of the Metroparks.

As a nonsupporter of hunting, I am uncomfortable that Metroparks of the Toledo Area, an organization I have voted to support with my tax dollars, is allowing hunting of deer on park land (“Metroparks bow hunt draws a herd of applicants,” Sept. 24).

Metroparks did not provide a public forum to discuss the issue of deer overgrazing before it decided to allow hunting. A forum is necessary to discuss this before it becomes an annual event.

This activity is revenue-producing, and thus a conflict of interest. Metroparks received $8,120 from the $5 fee paid by 1,624 applicants for the lottery to fill 69 hunting slots, according to your article.

Philosophically, hunting deer on park lands is at odds with the Metroparks’ rules that any form of wildlife not be injured.

Facts about the number of deer in the parks, the number of deer that park land can sustain, and the impact the deer have had on rare native plant species need to be provided in a public forum, so that an educated public can discuss them, provide direction, and affect decisions.

MARY ENSMAN

Holly Hill Drive