SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC NEWS)- The Syracuse Common Council unanimously voted for an agreement with the Marsh Mill Ranch to help combat the deer problem in Syracuse. This agreement will allow people to bring culled deer, or deer that have been baited and killed, to Marsh Mill Ranch to have the meat processed and donated to Central New York homeless shelters.
This is a response to the growing deer problem. The population of deer has been growing to a point of overpopulation, according to the City’s Tick and Deer Management Program. With no predators to keep the deer population in check, there have been an increase in issues. These include a higher chance of ticks transmitting Lyme disease, cars hitting deer and extreme foraging.
When a deer has been culled, the employees at Marsh Mill Ranch will skin, cut up and grind the meat up into five pound tubes. These tubes are sent to the homeless shelters in CNY. The ranch is important in solving the deer problem, Marsh Mill Ranch owner Don Cottet said.
“I mean they have this problem in the cities with these deer, in people’s gardens, eating their flowers, car accidents,” Cottet said. “We’re taking that problem and we’re turning it into feeding people in need.”
The ranch is able to donate culled deer meat through a contract with the United States Department of Agriculture. With this contract, they have been able to donate thousands of pounds of deer meat to the homeless shelters Cottet says.
“We did 6823 pounds of donated meat last year to the Central New York Food Bank. That’s over 50,000 in the last five years. That’s around 208,000 meals for people in Central New York,” Cottet said.
You can check out Marsh Mill Ranch’s website or call 315-663-2888 for more information.
