North Chagrin Reservation Deer Reduction Under Way

The Cleveland Metroparks has started its annual deer management program and will be culling the herd by 32 deer in the .

The park will be closed when culling is done and signs will be posted at all entrances by noon on those days. The herd reduction program is scheduled to run through March. For up-to-date information, park visitors can call the Parkway Alert Line at 440-331-5963.

Spokeswoman M. Jane Christyson said the relatively small number at the North Chagrin Reservation means the park will only have to be closed a couple of days. At the Mill Stream Run Reservation, which runs through North Royalton and Strongsville, the deer population will be reduced by 158.

Cleveland Metroparks Rangers are trained marksmen and will handle the shooting, Christyson said.

"It'll be done primarily at night from an elevated platform," she said. "In 13 years, we've never even had a near miss."

Christyson said the deer management program is done to create a more sustainable ecosystem. Deer overpopulation leads to damage to vegetation and causes an imbalance.

She added that deer are very adaptable animals and that problems cities are having with them are not necessarily connected to the Metroparks.

"People have the impression that all of the deer live in the  Metroparks," she said. "We get calls about deer from people four or five miles away from the park. I tell them, 'Those are your deer.' Those deer have found a home there."