Cape Girardeau City Council passes amended bill to adopt no-feed law for deer

The Cape Girardeau City Council gave first-round approval to a no-feed law that bans feeding deer in the city's limits Monday night, but only after tweaking the proposal to remove minerals, salts and certain deer-attracting scents from the list and adding language that would make the ban not apply to agriculturally zoned areas.

Councilman Mark Lanzotti proposed the amendment, saying that the ordinance as written could have interfered with farming operations, routine wildlife activities and possibly a deer archery hunt that the council will likely consider at a later date.

"We are growing in this community, and a lot of our growth is occurring in a rural setting, and that is the basis I would like the AG-1 exemption there," Lanzotti said.

AG-1 is a less restrictive agricultural designation that allows farming, single-family houses and small businesses. Lanzotti also noted that the city is annexing 300 acres of largely rural property into its boundaries. He suggested that residents could "run afoul" of the ban as it was proposed, perhaps even causing problems for Missouri Department of Conservation-sponsored wildlife activities. Lanzotti also said he didn't think that salt and minerals were contributing to the problem.

"I think we're talking about corn on the ground," he said during the study session before the meeting.

Making deer-attracting scents illegal could bump heads with implementing urban deer hunting, Lanzotti said, if the council chooses to go that route. He added that many bowhunters use scents in hunts.

The council unanimously approved the amendment and then the new ordinance, which will go into effect 10 days after the council's May 7 meeting if it is approved during a second-round vote. As it is now, no one could legally be allowed to deposit, distribute or leave any fruit, grain, hay, vegetable or other food with the intent of attracting or feeding white-tailed deer on public or private property.

It will be presumed if more than a half-gallon of any of those items is left out at a height of less than six feet off the ground, it was done for the purposes of feeding deer. Any device that is set up to feed deer would have to be removed once the ordinance takes effect. Violators could see a summons to municipal court, where a maximum punishment is up to $500 and no more than 90 days in jail. Police have said enforcement would be complaint-based.

While the vote was unanimous, Councilman Trent Summer, making his debut at a regular council meeting since his election April 3, questioned whether the ordinance may be too far-reaching.

"It's fairly broad, talking about vegetables and hay," Summers said. "I know you have an intent clause, but it's getting a fairly subjective interpretation of what is intent. I think there's some consequences that may not be intended. I support the motion, but I wonder if it's going too far."

The only non-council member who spoke on the ban was Stephen Stigers, who heads Cape Friends of Wildlife. The group was formed to oppose allowing archery hunting in Cape Girardeau, but Stigers said Monday night that he thinks the ban is a "very responsible step." Stigers also confessed to feeding the deer himself from time to time, but he promised to stop.

He also took his turn at the podium to again make his case against urban deer hunting, which is still on the table for consideration. He said that better alternatives would be lowered speed limits and changes to the fencing ordinances. Allowing an urban deer hunt, he said, would only open up the habitat for new deer to migrate in. He also predicted a "rebound effect" that would make the remaining does healthier, which leads to increased fertility.

"You're not likely to achieve any measurable results, and you're just embarking on a course of cruelty," Stigers said.

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO