We have a leash law to prevent dogs from dashing into the street in front of our cars and motorcycles. Likewise, it's illegal to allow your pet to roam and destroy your neighbor's property. Why should wild animals be immune from control?

The habitat destruction in the forest has reached a crisis, to say nothing of the accident and health hazards.

Sorry, but it isn't always a perfect world. In fact, this problem itself shows that we can't have both our beloved trees and our unfettered wildlife.

We have to make some choices.

Jonathan Chase,
Cornwall on Hudson

I live in the Village and you are right -- they are everywhere! They have destroyed the large bushes in the front of my home and now they are working on a tree. Besides for destroying my plants - they leave their "mess" behind and my kids have to now watch where they play even in their own yard. They also spread disease and they are very dangerous to drivers. I have no idea what to do (the air pistol doesn't work for me - we've tried) but something has to be done!

solution? Hunt, duhhh

?There are also areas with exclosure fencing, large areas fenced off from deer in order to compare the differences in vegetation?-----would love to get my property on that list, I would have vegetation if it weren't for all of the deer EVERYDAY in my yard on Cherry ave. I have to tell my kids to run inside when they see a buck as they use my yard for a passage way and get closer and closer to us, on our front porch now!

Using the Cornwall Commons as an example, but including any and all development/building projects within the town and village, is any thought given as to how many deer will be displaced? Are any plans presented as to how these deer may be relocated? Mr. Clarke talks about the loss of trees and vegetation caused by the deer. Does he question the developers who plow over the land so they can build whatever it is they plan to build? I doubt it. As I have said before, it sounds like frustrated hunters to me. They go in the woods during deer season and come out empty handed only to go home and find a large buck walking across their neighbors yard. As far as car/deer accidents go I would suggest that people slow down to at least the posted speed limit and put down the cell phone. You might be surprised at what you've been missing.

J Cornish: I DO NOT HUNT-SO I AM NOT FRUSTRATED - I DO NOT TALK ON THE CELL PHONE WHILE DRIVING AND I DO NOT SPEED (WELL, MAYBE SOMETIMES). My children are a lot more important than deer with disease bringing filth into my yard and destroying my property which my husband and I work really hard at to keep looking nice.

The tone of the letter is much better, less scare tactics, but several questions still remain. What is the number of deer in the village? The large numbers of deer quoted in the previous communications are grossly exaggerated. The more scientific method used by Black Rock should be employed; relying on sightings will always make the numbers seem much greater. What is the increase in auto ? deer occurrences as a percentage of population over the last five to ten years, is there really a correlation here? Is there an increase in the occurrence of Lyme disease as a percentage of population over the last five years?

People in the village must consider whether the extreme measures being advocated are justified. Do you want to be known as a small quaint village that kills in a very horrible way animals that annoy them? And make no mistake, shooting an arrow with razor blades at its tip into a live peaceful animal, to basically rip it apart internally, is definitely horrible!

These animals are not intentionally malicious nor do they mean harm to anyone. Instead, they are attracted to the serine nature of the village, where there is food and ?safety?. That is why hunting and killing them doesn?t really work, more will always come. The hunts will always lead to more deer coming from the forest ? this not a valid solution. The group that has formed are not sincere in their evaluation, they are biased as is the DEC toward hunting. They have not invited the input from any humane groups such as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), they have invited only the opinion of hunting groups. Good people of the village must speak out to protect these animals from a horrifically slow painful death, they have no voice, their trust is in you?
Tom DiCarrado

So now we are comparing dogs with deer!? A dog belongs to someone that person needs to be responsible for that animal. We have a dog and keep her on a leash. Deer belong to nature there is no leash law for deer. They are free spirited animals that should be cared for by us humans not destroyed. We take their land away and then complain when they come back to live and eat. There is nothing more beautiful than to see a family of deer - fawns playing - young children's eyes big with wonder as they watch.

So why can't humans use our brains and stop taking away so much of the wildlife's land and figure out how to live in peace with nature. Using up all the land not ony affects the deer there are lots of other wildlife with a place to live.

Killing isn't the answer - as Tom DiCarrado said more will come. Have we become such cold hearted people that we will allow the killing of animals right in our own backyards? And when the first hunting accident occurs how will we be able to sleep at night knowing we were a part of it.

Get real people we live here because we wanted nature, we wanted to get away from city life. There are people in the world who would give their right hand to have what we have, these people live with death everyday while we live in peace with nature.

Get more information there has to be a better way. Don't let your children or grandchildren live in a village that kills nature.

This isn't coexisting with nature anymore, the deer population has become an infestation. Actuall, the deer have moved down from their natural habitat to be in the village because they are not hunted here. There has to be some control.

Infestation is an apt term. Like rats, deer have compensated for their "underdog" status and survived the heavy pressures on their population over the eons through extremely high reproduction rates.

They are ruining the forests, they are a significant hazard on our roads and they constitute a major host to the tick which carries Lyme disease.

Put simply, they aren't Disney characters, they are pests and must be dealt with as such.

Oh, and let's follow the new policy here by getting our names up on these posts.

Jonathan Chase,
Cornwall on Hudson

Stephan, my suggestion obviously wasn't directed at you. And I recognize that the policy will become automatic shortly.

I was trying to strike a blow for the spirit of the new policy by advocating that posters voluntarily comply now by identifying themselves. So far, it appears by my count that 5 have and 4 haven't.

Jonathan Chase, CoH