Shame on Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and City Council member Barb Warwick for orchestrating the cull of deer in Frick Park (“Pittsburgh looking to allow limited deer hunting in some city parks,” Aug. 29, TribLIVE).

I am a native of Somerset County, and some of my earliest memories are of my dad and grandfathers skinning deer. There are many photos of me as a child next to my father’s buck or doe that he killed that deer season. My grandfather was a local game commissioner. Deer hunting is deeply woven into the cultural history of Pennsylvania and a source of pride for those that participate in deer hunting season.

Conflict between humans and animals has been on the rise due to the growing scarcity of resources. This is a worldwide problem. This has been seen nationally with increasing encounters with bears and is seen in other parts of the world, such as India, with human-animal encounters with elephants. This is a complex problem to solve.

If we choose to do better, we can. This requires intentional planning to implement humane solutions. There are myriad humane options to mitigate deer populations. The Humane Society of the United States lists many humane methods for problems with animal-human encounters with deer. Even my deer-killing family did not participate in bow hunting because it is not the fastest and least painful way to kill a deer.

If others feel as I do, I urge you to reach out to Gainey and Warwick to ask them to look to humane solutions.

Elizabeth Ringler-Jayanthan

Squirrel Hill

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