Fayette County

HOA wants to thin out the population of deer in one community

FAYETTE COUNTY, Ga. — Some Fayette County residents are trying to stop the plans of a local homeowners’ association to thin out a herd of deer.%

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"I'm standing here in front of a golf course, and it started out as wilderness,” resident Robert Goldberg said.

Goldberg is opposing the plans of the Whitewater Creek HOA.  The HOA board says there have been too many car-deer collisions, and too many sickly deer because the population is too large.

A contractor that works under the U.S. Department of Agriculture has a plan to hunt the deer after dark, using high-powered rifles and night vision goggles.

"Not every sharp-shooter gets their mark all the time. My concern would be, shoot a house. The bullet goes through a wall. You shoot a child or person sleeping in the middle of the night,” resident Suzie Tjarks said.

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"We are avid hunters in my family. But as far as shooting deer and taking out deer in neighborhoods, I'm not sure I'm for that at all,” resident Jackie Kitchens said.

Goldberg has launched an online petition to try to scuttle the HOA’s plans, and a GoFundMe page to finance a possible lawsuit.

"If I wasn't going to do it, who was going to do it for the deer? They can't speak for themselves.
They're God's creatures, and I felt I needed to do something," Goldberg said.

The president of the HOA told Channel 2 he wasn’t sure how many deer live in the community or how many would be removed, but the plan is to get it done by the end of the year.