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[[underlined]]Management of Front Royal Deer Population[[/underlined]]
As reported in the November [[underlined]]Newsletter to the Regents[[/underlined]], the Zoo's plan for a controlled public deer hunt at its Conservation and Research Center were cancelled following a hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies. The Institution then proposed an alternative plan which called for the erection of additional deer-proof fences to protect the exotic animals under our care and a joint study with the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the Virginia Game Commission on the feasibility of capturing, relocating and releasing deer in other areas of Virginia. 
Chairman Yates endorsed the Institution's plan and proposed an appropriation of $650,000 in furtherance of this plan before his subcommittee, which was then considering the Institution's fiscal year 1983 budget request, but the proposal was defeated in subcommittee and again later in full committee. As a result, the Institution is once again examining various options. Included among these options is to request a "damage permit" from the Virginia Game Commission which would allow the Institution to employ marksmen to kill deer in areas of the Conservation and Research Center where there is a serious threat of crop damage and presumably where the threat of parasitic infection to our exotic collection is the greatest. Additionally, a small-scale relocation feasibility study may be undertaken. Early in 1983 a meeting of wildlife management experts will be convened to assist the Zoo in reviewing options and offering advice for future action.