VESTAL -- Binghamton University is considering having sharpshooters kill most of a growing deer population that's overwhelming the 200-acre nature preserve on the state-run campus.
A committee of faculty, staff and students has recommended to university administrators that 90 percent of the deer population be culled during the school's monthlong winter break.
Committee chairman Julian Shepherd, an associate professor of biological sciences, says the deer are essentially destroying the university's nature preserve, located in Vestal, just outside Binghamton.
He told the Sun and Press-Bulletin of Binghamton that 20 species of wild flowers have disappeared because of the deer herd, which numbers around 100.
A public hearing on the plan is scheduled for Dec. 6 on the Binghamton University campus.
