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Fairfax County supervisors are signaling resistance to a staff proposal that would move wildlife management from the county police department to the Fairfax County Park Authority.

“We need a little more time to discuss this [and] make sure we think this through, very carefully,” Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn said during the Board of Supervisors’ safety and security committee meeting Tuesday, Feb. 11.

For nearly 30 years, the Fairfax County Police Department has overseen the program responsible for managing the county’s abundant deer population and responding to concerns involving bears, coyotes, beavers, Canada geese and other wildlife.

Deputy County Executive for Safety and Security Thomas Arnold said the park authority is “certainly open” to discussing a takeover.

Deputy Police Chief Bob Blakley said the idea appears to offer “more pros than cons.” Wildlife management aligns more closely with the park authority’s mission, he said, while employees could gain better opportunities for career advancement and collaboration with ecologists and other specialists.

But Board Chairman Jeff McKay and several other supervisors raised concerns about accountability. The park authority is a quasi-independent agency governed by its own board, meaning elected supervisors would have less direct oversight of wildlife policies that can become contentious.

“That’s very different from what we have today,” McKay said.

“I fear … losing direct control,” Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity added.

After discussing the proposal for about 45 minutes, McKay said the board appeared to be leaning toward keeping wildlife management within the police department. Officials were instructed to gather more information and feedback before returning to supervisors at a later date.

McKay urged county leaders to slow down and examine every available option.

“We have an opportunity here to be a national model — if we do things right,” he said.

Fairfax County manages its white-tailed deer population primarily through volunteer archers, supported by police sharpshooters. Hunters harvested 773 deer in 2024, compared with annual totals exceeding 1,000 during the mid-2000s, according to the county’s Environmental Quality Advisory Council.

The proposed wildlife-management transfer is separate from an ongoing effort to move animal control services out of the police department and into the Department of Animal Services, formerly known as the Department of Animal Sheltering.