The city of East Lansing is postponing an annual deer cull scheduled for January to allow more time for public input.
Last week, the city held an informational open house on its deer management practices.
East Lansing residents were given access to a survey to submit their thoughts on the issue.
But during Tuesday’s city council meeting, Councilwoman Dana Watson says she was surprised to hear City Manager George Lahanas say the deer cull would proceed starting January 3.
Watson believes it’s premature to begin the cull without first gauging public opinion.
“I’m not necessarily leaning towards saying we should have no cull at all, but I do believe when we make the difficult decision to kill deer, we need information to back that up annually,” Watson said.
“Because we do hear from people who want us to do it and people who don’t want us to do it on a regular basis, I think it warrants an annual conversation at minimum,” she added.
The East Lansing city council will discuss the matter at its next meeting on January 10.
Meanwhile, Meridian Township will begin its two-month deer cull on New Year’s Day.