Arlington Co. to hold final vote on whether to use sharpshooters to reduce deer population

The Arlington County Board will meet Saturday to take a final vote on whether to amend the Virginia county’s code to allow for professional sharpshooters to be brought in to kill deer on public land.

Other communities around the D.C. region have used sharpshooters to reduce the deer population, but this would be a first for Arlington.

Specifically, board members will be voting on whether to amend the code “to exclude the discharge of firearms for county supervised deer management activities from the prohibition of firearms on county property.”

The debate on whether to move forward with the idea has been ongoing for a while.

“For years, we have been engaged in discussions with the county regarding their proposed deer management plan,” said Sam Wolbert, president and CEO of the Animal Welfare League of Arlington. “We have advocated for non-lethal alternatives.”

Such alternatives include deer sterilization.

However, sharpshooters represent a faster and more cost-effective way of reducing the deer population, according to supporters of the plan.

“The problem is the degradation of the quality of the natural environment because of the overabundance of deer,” said Takis Karantonis, the vice chair of the county board. “Too many deer reduces the ability of the forests to reproduce themselves, and that compromises the quality of the environment.”

Wolbert added that his organization still opposes the plan, but he acknowledged that it is essentially a “done deal” at this point.

“Our animal control team will not be involved in any part of the culling process,” Wolbert said. “Our focus is on the humane treatment of animals and wildlife in our community, and we will continue to care for our local wildlife to our highest standard.”

Karantonis said if the measure is approved Saturday, the board will then order a study to determine exactly where the shooting would take place.

“We will have a deer management plan based on this new study so that we know exactly where the populations are and where the professional sharpshooters would go,” Karantonis said.

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