Jan 25, 2017 By Luke Campbell 3 min read

Mt. Lebanon resident Elaine Gillen is continuing her legal battle to learn which homeowner properties hunting has been allowed on during the township’s controversial deer cull.

Gillen appealed her open records case to the state Supreme Court Jan. 6, after last month when a Commonwealth Court panel ruled that the municipality is not legally obligated to release the individual properties where the cull occurs.

This was a result of a petition submitted by the township to the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court after the state’s Office of Open Records ruled in Gillen’s favor.

“Mt. Lebanon is using taxpayer money to protect property owners, however many there are now, and disregard the remaining 33,000 residents,” Gillen said. “All I’m trying to find out is what places to avoid and they aren’t telling us that. It just appears to me that it’s backwards. They are protecting the minority of people who are donating property and use public money to solve gardening problems.”

According to Gillen, her appeal follows numerous right-to-know requests issued to the municipality about the archery and sharpshooting programs conducted by White Buffalo Inc. The goal, when first implemented by the commission in early 2014, was to reduce deer incidents with vehicles by 50 percent over the next five years.

“We are not trying to keep internal municipal discussions private,” Commissioner Dave Brumfield said. “What is at issue is a number of residents that have volunteered their property for the program. In doing so, they did not expect to open themselves up to public ridicule or harassment from someone who might disagree with their beliefs on the issue of the deer cull.”

While the cull has eliminated more than 200 deer over the past two years, according to township statistics, vehicle collisions have continued to climb throughout the densley-populated municipality.

Despite having limited room to cull deer, the Pennsylvania Game Commission has denied multiple requests from the municipality to allow for sterilization to help solve the problem, although it will continue to be considered.

The sharpshooting phase of the program will run from Feb. 1 to March 31 in the private properties donated for the purpose, designated municipal parks and the municipal golf course.

According to the municipality, no culling – similar to the previous year – will take place near schools or safe walking routes.

“I have a trust issue with Mt. Lebanon,” Gillen said. “The public is misinformed. I have no problem with hunting. If you want to hunt that’s fine, but don’t do it in Mt. Lebanon. There are too many people.”

Currently, Gillen is awaiting to hear whether the state Supreme Court is willing to hear her case.