Recommendations for The City of Worthington Based on Results from a Residential Opinion Survey on Deer Populations and Potential Management Strategies
Loading...
Date
2024-05
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
In 2023, the City of Worthington, Ohio established the Worthington Deer Task Force in response to resident complaints regarding the unmanaged deer population. Subsequently, senior capstone students at The Ohio State University were tasked with constructing a survey to provide the task force and city leadership insight into resident opinions on deer presence and potential management strategies. The survey was deployed to residents through social media, mailers, and in-person events. A total of 3,895 responses were analyzed to create an informed recommendation for appropriate city action. Respondents expressed a general desire to see the deer population decrease (71.0%), but there were divisions in support for the two proposed lethal management options of professional markspeople or an archery program. It is recommended that the City of Worthington works to identify effective, less polarizing management options while simultaneously developing an education campaign to inform residents of the details of potential management strategies.
Description
Course Code: AEDECON 4567
Keywords
deer, residential wildlife management, urban wildlife management, community survey, wildlife human interaction, public opinion survey