A Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Donofrio has upheld a magistrate's earlier ruling against residents challenging the way Mill Creek Metroparks used to reduce the number of deer on park property.

Donofrio overruled objections to Magistrate Nicole Butler's March opinion in favor of the park district, finding that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife has the proper authority to approve the park's plan to hunt and kill deer.

Residents who filed the lawsuit in September challenged the park's contention that there were too many whitetail deer, challenging the plan to hold a lottery to choose hunters that would cull the deer population.

Metroparks officials expressed concerns over herd health, and deer damaging plants in the park.

Calling the park's methodology a "Deer Slaughter Plan", the lawsuit questioned the methods used by the park to calculate the deer population. It characterized the details of the plan as "sketchy".

The civil suit also raised concerns about how deer hunting could threaten the safety of residents living near park property.

Attorney Marc Dann, who represents the Save the Deer group, tells 21 News he plans to appeal the decision by the end of the week. 

Judge Donofrio's judgment may be read below: