A Superior Court judge this week upheld a Princeton Township ordinance that foribds property owners from feeding deer.
Princeton Township’s efforts to manage its deer population have attracted animal rights attention after the township brought in marksman to thin the deer herd.
The township also passed an ordinance forbidding peopel to feed deer on their property, whcih brought a legal challenge from the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance and 30 other groups and individuals who argued the ordinance was arbitrary and unreasonable.
Judge Linda Feinberg agreed with the township that,
Put simply, the artificial feeding is causing exactly the effects the township is trying to combat, namely, that the deer are concentrating on properties in alarmingly high numbers resulting in a deterimental imapct on the environment and neighboring propertis.
Plaintiffs attorney Bruce Afran told The Princeton Packet that the plaintiffs would appeal the decision saying it violated the rights of property owners and that the township had not sufficiently proven that deer feeding posted a real threat to the environment and people of Princeton Township.
Sources:
Township’s deer-feeding ban upheld by court. David Campbell, The Princeton Packet, December 13, 2002.
Ban on feeding deer upheld. Robert Stern, The Times (New Jersey), December 13, 2002.
Feed deer, get fined in NJ,. Associated Press, December 13, 2002.