Despite a recommendation by Arlington County government staff to hire sharpshooters and cull the community’s deer population, one major organization is remaining firm in its opposition.
Using lethal means to reduce deer is an “excessive” approach to the matter, the Animal Welfare League of Arlington (AWLA) said after county staff recommended using sharpshooters on public land.
The organization in recent years has been steadfast in its opposition to the idea.
AWLA officials said the staff recommendation ignored other viable options, including non-lethal means that were a more-preferred option of respondents to a government-sponsored survey.
Animal Welfare League of Arlington officials have a supporter in Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington), who said sharpshooters would be problematic.
“There are non-lethal methods of deer management, especially for a population of this [limited] size,” he said in a social-media posting.
Staff working for Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz on June 18 formally proposed the sharpshooter option, suggesting that it go into effect the winter of 2025-26.
Development of a deer-management proposal has been ongoing in Arlington since 2021. Despite an extensive public-outreach effort, it has appeared almost from the outset that county staff were leaning toward a lethal route to deal with the issue.
