Brooklyn is preparing for a second deer cull this fall after a new population survey found the city’s white-tailed herd remains several times above what wildlife officials consider normal. Mayor Ron Van Kirk is waiting on the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for a late-summer or early-fall answer on when the next operation could happen. The city’s first effort removed 100 deer, but the numbers and neighborhood complaints suggest this wildlife headache is not leaving quietly.
According to Cleveland.com, an ODNR manual count estimated 35 to 45 deer per square mile in Brooklyn, compared with a normal range of 10 to 12. Residents favored reducing the population by a 2-to-1 margin in the city survey. Van Kirk told the outlet he expects to hear back from ODNR about possible culling dates in late summer or early fall.
Brooklyn’s First Cull Removed 100 Deer
The inaugural operation ran from dusk through midnight on city-owned land, including wooded areas north of the service department. USDA sharpshooters removed 100 white-tailed deer, and the city donated the venison to the Cleveland Food Bank, according to a January notice from the City of Brooklyn. Police were assigned to monitor the locations while the operation was underway.
The first year also carried a $55,000 bill, which Van Kirk said was mostly tied to venison processing. ODNR granted 100 permits for that inaugural effort, while Brooklyn police reported 577 deer complaints to animal control and 29 vehicle-versus-deer crash reports last year. Those figures, along with the population count, are the practical case city officials are making for another cull, as Cleveland.com reported.
Survey Keeps Residents In The Middle Of The Debate
Brooklyn opened its latest resident deer-management survey on June 10 and kept it open through June 24, asking residents to help inform future decisions. The city’s notice did not lock in a specific method, but the survey gives officials a formal read on whether residents want the program continued. That puts public sentiment alongside the count and crash data, rather than relying on a single measure of the problem, according to the City of Brooklyn.
Brooklyn is hardly the only Northeast Ohio suburb trying to solve the deer problem. Shaker Heights launched a sterilization program in January as a nonlethal alternative, a different playbook from Brooklyn’s USDA-led cull, as a prior Hoodline report detailed. The debate is less about whether deer are visible than about which remedy residents will accept—and what it costs.
Why A Fall Culling Date Is Not Set Yet
Before any fall operation is scheduled, Brooklyn still needs ODNR’s approval. Ohio’s administrative rules say nuisance white-tailed deer may be killed only after the landowner or agent receives a permit from the chief of the Division of Wildlife or a designee, and permits may include specific conditions, according to Ohio’s Administrative Code. In other words, Van Kirk’s timeline is a target, not a confirmed cull date.
For now, Brooklyn has a fresh survey, a population estimate well above the cited normal range and a first-year operation to assess. The next concrete update will come when ODNR responds—and when city officials say whether a second round is worth pursuing.
