A battle has been waged in the small village of Cayuga Heights. It is neighbor versus neighbor on whether or not to kill most of the village's deer population. Our Tamara Lindstrom was there as community members took their last chance to speak out.

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"If there weren't too many deer in the village, we wouldn't be having this meeting," said one Cayuga Heights resident.

"I will be afraid to have my pets outside if we're going to shoot. I do not want to pay taxes for the slaughter of these animals," said another.

A final hearing was held Monday night on the proposed deer remediation plan.

"Sterilizing a core population of does, somewhere between twenty and sixty, and then culling the remainder of the herd," explained mayor Kate Supron.

Supporters of the plan said the animals get into gardens, cause car crashes and spread disease.

"They are destroying the country," said a resident of Kendal at Ithaca.

"My yard is completely littered with deer feces," another neighbor said.

But others wonder if there is truly a problem at all.

"They have not collected population data on the deer in the region," said James LaVeck, founder of CayugaDeer.org. "And because of that, people are very upset because there isn't even a founded basis to say what the problem is or what the level of it might be."

Opponents say the plan is cruel, dangerous and unnecessary.

"There are budget shortfalls all around, and we propose to spend a million dollars on deer culling," one resident said.

Some suggested that allowing homeowners to build fences, a practice currently banned in the Village, would solve the problem. And the newest tactic known as "netting and bolting" was also a concern. It involves luring deer into an area, then trapping them in a net.

"And while this is happening, people go in and inject a metal rod into their brains, LaVeck said. "And because the animals are struggling and it's dark, very often this practice results in animals having to be bolted up to two to three times."

Neighbors lined up by the dozens to make passionate arguments both for and against the plan, but according to village trustees, in the end their opinions are just that.

"We're here to listen this evening. We're not bound by this evening's remarks. I'm not sure if we're going to hear anything new this evening," Supron said.

"Many people are concerned that the division that is being created in the community by this controversial backyard slaughter program is going to scar the community," LaVeck said.

The public can comment on the study for ten days.

To see the entire plan,