Actually, PAWS is paying a high rent to the township.

However, there is a real tax burden related to animals that taxpayers might not be aware of. Last year the cost of killing 80 geese (by electrocution) in Edgemont Park cost taxpayers about $4,000, even though GeesePeace had offered to sterilize the goose eggs for free.

The cost of killing over 200 deer in South Mountain Reservation cost taxpayers at least $20,000, to my knowledge, though I don’t know if this included transporting deer who lived elsewhere to the reservation. By the way, the deer weren’t "hunted," they were lured to the site with food and shot. This was the first hunt in the reservation since the reservation was founded in the 1890s with a "no hunting" rule.

Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo is considering annual hunts, possibly even expanding them into Eagle Rock Reservation and other sites. So this cruel and unsporting killing could really hit you in the pocket, now, when you can least afford it.

PAWS, which saves animals, does not receive much money from taxpayers. All this demonstrates to me that it costs a lot more money to kill animals than it does to save them.