A hunt is planned starting Saturday at the University of Michigan Dearborn to kill deer that officials say threaten the environment and could harbor disease-carrying ticks.
University spokesman Ken Kettenbeil says sharpshooters will work to reduce the deer population from 70 to about 20-30. The Detroit Free Press reports the cull will take place in part of the wooded, 300-acre (121-hectare) Environmental Study Area.
The newspaper says a deer tick was found last year on a person who had been in the woods. But Kettenbeil says the main purpose of the hunt is to protect the area from damage by a growing deer herd. The venison will be donated to Gleaners Community Food Bank.
The school held a deer cull in 2015 that killed 34 deer of a 76-deer herd.
