Message from the Mayor: Memorial Day Parade tomorrow, Deer Experiment
Posted on: May 28, 2016 - 3:58pm
Fellow Residents;
The Memorial Day Parade is tomorrow, as well as (incongruously) the Deer Immunocontraception Project annual recap.
Memorial Day
This year's Memorial Day Parade, tomorrow, Sunday, 2PM, follows the same route as the other recent ones. Down Main Street, and right on Warburton with a loop back on Maple. We have 60 service personnel from the Marines, Navy and Coast Guard (all in town as part of Fleet Week in NYC), as well as an Admiral and Marine Corp General at the review stand. There's fire engines, convertibles, marching bands, a dance troupe, politicians, Boy Scouts and more - the whole nine yards. You'll recognize your neighbors in the parade, enjoy the moment and remember why you're happy you live here and maybe even why the holiday inspires this.
We owe our freedom and the blessings of liberty to those who have passed over the decades. More than a thousand young men from Hastings went off to World War One, World War Two, Korea and the Vietnam War and many did not come home. Those names are memorialized on the marble memorials up by the VFW hall and on a plaque at street level before you climb up to the Library. A short, simple ceremony in front of the VFW with a gun salute and taps right after the parade acknowledges their sacrifice and you should consider attending (especially with your children). (Have the kids introduce themselves to the Admiral and General in attendance!) The Fire Department throws a blow-out barbecue for the service personnel down at the waterfront afterwards and the their joy is palpable.
Deer Project
We have wrapped up and done our post-mortem on the Deer Immunocontraception Project underway now for three years. The Humane Society team darted 20 more does in addition to the 30 already darted, bringing the number up to 50. (I am personally finding that just about every group of deer I now encounter seem to have at least one tagged deer in their midst.) We also have the first formal estimate, based on a count done from trail cameras that were briefly installed around the Village two years ago, indicating that there are 80 does in Hastings. We carried out a count last year as well, and that one should be even more accurate. The cameras take photos of every warm-blooded creature that pass within twenty feet of it. Last year, we had thirty tagged deer. If a fifth of the deer in the photos have tags (quick! High School algebra word problem!), it's a straight proportion to the actual total number of deer in town: about 150.
This is actually the gold standard method for counting deer - and while it is a little higher than we expected (subsequent counts will be more accurate), we have inoculated about 63% of the does. Dr. Rutberg believes that this passes the threshold where we should start seeing results in the following years, so we are encouraged and plan to stick to the experiment for at least the five year term. The twenty deer tagged this year (with ear tags numbered 31 and over) were pregnant (with one exception) at the point of being darted and are fawning about now. That means you should expect to see some of the tagged deer with fawns (those with ear tags whose numbers are greater than 30). THIS IS AN EXPECTED RESULT. However, what you should NOT be seeing are deer numbered 1 through 30 with fawns. While we expect 3 or 4 of those will probably be fertile, the rest should not be.
If you want to read the scientific details of this year's study, we have uploaded to the Village website Dr. Rutberg's annual report submission to Fish and Wildlife, the NY State agency that is monitoring this experiment or Here. This effort seeks to answer one question: can we bring the numbers of deer down (by lowering the numbers of fawns born) faster than numbers will increase as a result of immigration. Note, this is the same question regardless of the way you bring the number of deer down (whether by crossbow or fertility control). And we're well on our way to finding out. New York City has now committed to engage in a similar effort on Staten Island (there, they are sterilizing bucks). Staten Island is a closed island environment but many times larger than here. Comparing the two outcomes will be interesting.
Enjoy the fine summer weather (on like a switch this weekend), and see you at the parade.
Peter Swiderski
Mayor