Provo to use lethal methods only to control urban deer

PROVO — The Provo Municipal Council will move to only using lethal methods of controlling the urban deer population.

The Daily Herald reports that the city will now use either professional archers or traps and euthanization.

The city previously used a combination of lethal and nonlethal methods, but the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has stopped transporting trapped deer to new locations because of concerns of spreading chronic wasting disease, which is contagious and causes a degeneration of the brains of the infected animal.

The new plan will cost the city about $5,000 more a year, an amount that Councilman Gary Winterton said is fair.