Tresa Baldas

Detroit Free Press

A group of Ann Arbor residents is asking a federal judge to temporarily block sharpshooters from killing deer on public land this winter, claiming city parks will be turned into "killing fields" and their quality of life will be ruined if the cull proceeds as planned.

The residents are challenging a city-sanctioned plan to use federal sharpshooters to lure and kill up to 100 deer in city-owned parks and natural areas between January and March. The Ann Arbor City Council voted in November to spend up to $35,000 on the cull project and lifted a city ordinance that banned hunting within city limits.

U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow scheduled a hearing for Monday to help him decide whether to issue a temporary injunction barring the deer kill pending the outcome of the lawsuit.

The plan has triggered much controversy in Ann Arbor, with some residents claiming the deer population has gotten out of control, and others arguing the cull is dangerous and unnecessary.

"For me, it's a safety issue. I have a small child. We use the parks all the time and now we can't. I just feel like our whole quality of life has been diminished because of this unnecessary rush to arms," said resident Sabra Sanzotta, who is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that is challenging the legality of the cull.

Opponents sue to try to stop Ann Arbor deer hunt

The lawsuit, filed Monday, claims the City of Ann Arbor quietly and quickly approved an unlawful deer-kill plan after caving to the needs of a special-interest group that complained about a deer population problem that, it claims, doesn't really exist.

"This is not a serious problem," Sanzotta said. "It doesn't need this kind of violence."

City officials have not yet filed a response to the lawsuit and could not be immediately reached for comment.

According to the city's website, the purpose of the deer management program is "to decrease the deer population in Ann Arbor in order to reduce deer-human negative interactions and support biological diversity in natural areas by not placing one species above another."

The city has started posting signs in multiple languages at affected park and nature-area entrances to notify visitors of the early closures, and residents living near the designated parks or nature areas have been informed of these early closures via postcard.

According to the website, the deer cull plan arose "as a result of numerous resident reports of deer damaging landscaping and concerns regarding vehicle/deer collisions and deer-borne diseases." The program:

Will not include culling more than 100 deer during winter 2016.

culling more than 100 deer during winter 2016. Will not include culling deer on private property.

culling deer on private property. Will not include allowing the discharge of firearms by hunters, residents or visitors at any time within city limits.

The plaintiffs allege that the deer kill is not justified for the following reasons: