80 deer will be culled in Tega Cay to help with overpopulation

TEGA CAY, S.C. — Tega Cay’s city council is making another effort to help with deer overpopulation in the city.

On Monday, council voted to cull 80 deer.

Tega Cay Council voted last night to cull 80 deer. The community of about 10,000 has approx 349 deer per square mile @wsoctv
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) December 19, 2023

Monday’s vote is an update to a long-running story Channel 9 has followed. In February, we reported that Tega Cay had about 349 deer per square mile in the community of about 10,000 people along Lake Wylie.

Residents expect to see deer in the woods and maybe the occasional sighting in the suburbs, but some told us they see deer at all hours of the day. Neighbors say they eat plants from their gardens and leave their waste behind, which has become a nuisance.

It’s become a contentious issue for the city; some residents want the deer to be eliminated, while others don’t want anything to be done to them.

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Council members suggested Monday that culling 80 deer was an immediate solution. They said in the future, they might want to look at shooting deer with a dart full of PZP, which is a fertility-control vaccine.

The Tega Cay Wildlife Conservation Society presented city council members with the PZP option in early November, saying it could reduce the thousands of deer in the area.

Currently, the council is waiting for Clemson University to approve the birth control method for deer overpopulation. If approved, a vote can be made by the city council with that option instead of using sharpshooters.

(WATCH BELOW: ‘Way overpopulated’: Tega Cay considering birth control for deer)