Watch out, Heber City deer, the City Council has your number.
In the last few minutes of Tuesday evening’s regular meeting, the body discussed an issue they’ve seen become more and more problematic over the past few years: Deer that don’t just visit Heber City in the winter during their search for food, but call the city their year-round home as much as any human resident.
The conversation was on the agenda at the request of Councilor Scott Phillips, who suggested the city use a Utah Department of Natural Resources program in which the problematic hoofed creatures could be captured, euthanized and processed into meat donated to local food banks.
Though council members were broadly open to learning more about the program and its possible implementation in Heber City, their support did not come without reservation.
“I don’t want to kill Bambi’s mom,” Councilor Yvonne Barney lamented.
Phillips suggested one way such guilt could be mitigated.
“I’ll put out a memo to all the deer and say go home if you don’t want to be hamburger,” he said.
Councilor Rachel Kahler noted that the program could potentially provide solutions to two issues in the community — it could help protect gardens that are annually destroyed by hungry cervids as well as secure a protein source for food banks.
“I don’t know if we’re meeting the demands when it comes to protein,” she said. “I’m in favor of it.”
Councilor Mike Johnston noted that every evening he notices at least 20 deer or so pass through his neighborhood, and scores of the animals seem to die in the winter, leaving their carcasses wherever they last failed to find food or along the sides of roads where they were killed.
“It’s just worse and worse every year,” he said.
Mayor Heidi Franco said she expected people would dislike the program if it led to deer being euthanized in their yards for them to see.
“We need to know where DNR would do their work,” she said. “We’ve had this come to the city before where I think DNR had archers. … That didn’t go over.”
She was also concerned what the program could cost the city.
While Phillips had few details ready to share, he said he mainly brought the idea up to gauge interest and will look further into the possibility.
“It’s an August program, so it’s only taking care of the deer that are here during the summer,” Phillips said. “The other deer that go back up in the mountains in the summer are not the ones we’re concerned about.”
While areas bordering Heber City were once hunted, Phillips said annexations and developments have removed that check on the deer population, leaving it to expand more rapidly than before.
“The deer in our neighborhood are very smart,” Barney said. “They know where to hide.”
“We can see how smart they are with the DNR,” Phillips responded.
The council determined to contact DNR to learn more about the option.