By Donna Thornton/News Editor
Terry Turk of Sardis City said his family’s love of Noccalula Falls Park led him to make a proposal to the City of Gadsden to restock – and provide much of the care for – the deer at the park.
Turk owns Bama Bucks, a deer-breeding facility in Sardis City. He said under state law, the deer at the park – one buck and a few females – could not be released into the wild after having been penned. The Alabama Department of Conservation restricts deer born in pens from being released into the wild or to another facility, he said, and would prevent deer born in the wild from being penned at the park.
Turk said he has the permits necessary to take deer from Bama Bucks and place them at the falls. He said he would be responsible for controlling the deer population there, and the city would be spared vet costs. Turk also said he’d share feed costs.
Turk said his deer are monitored to be disease-free and said he’d been contacting other facilities to try to find a place that could take the deer at the park now, so they could be replaced with deer from his facility. He said he’s found one place, in Pike County, that would take the deer.
“There’s nothing in it for me,” Turk said, “other than taking on more work.”
But Turk said his father worked at the steel plant and he and his father have supported the park. His father is seriously ill now, Turk said, and placing deer from Bama Bucks at the park is something they have talked about.
“He’s been asking about it,” Turk said, which led Turk to make this proposal to the city council.
The mayor and council received copies of Turk’s proposal and said it will be considered.