No Expense Too Great For “Humane” Treatment Of Deer

Common sense is seen as good judgment. Something that is handled in a manner that is rational or sane is often referred to as common sense. Perhaps it’s lacking in far too many aspects of human life these days.

It is no secret that deer are becoming a problem in thousands of urban areas across the land. And whose fault is that? Well, we have only ourselves to blame and let’s spread that blame around. We do such a marvelous job of managing our wildlife these days that in places it may be too good. With better science and management tools, biologists can restore depleted species in pretty short order, all things considered.

We must also blame the institution of laws banning hunting within certain areas of town. Whether we like it or not, hunting is the one tried and true method of controlling populations of deer and other species. Flat out bans on hunting, including the use of bow and arrow, has had its affect. And let’s not forget about trapping as well. Now this ban is haunting us.

We humans love our big luxurious homes. Our cries over the past decades to keep green space may be coming back to bite us in the backside. Where once, homes were built side by side or on top of each other, it is more commonplace to find them being built on 5, 10, 20 or larger acres of land just on the outskirts of town. As growth continues, these homes that were once outside town are now in town. This makes for prime deer habitat. The deer are well protected and are provided ample food, either directly from deliberate feeding or indirectly from the plants and shrubbery put out by homeowners.

This is really no new material for most people, especially those who deal directly with this problem. If you live in these areas, prepare yourself as this problem will be coming to you sometime soon.

So, here’s the problem. Now, what do we do about it? Some towns have rethought their hunting bans and opened up areas to help reduce populations of deer. Sharpshooters have been hired in some cases and in others, individuals and groups want to try other methods first, methods they deem humane.

This morning I found an article in the Newark Advocate from Newark, Ohio. It appears there is a similar deer problem there in Granville and the locals are trying to revise plans to find ways to deal with this overpopulation of deer. This article is one person’s opinions, not much fact and a grocery list of all the things Granville should do before resorting to the “inhumane” treatment of deer and allowing them to be hunted.

Here’s an abbreviated version of Janet Worth’s list of “humane” methods.

1. A system that monitors and collects all information about deer. This would include surveying the habitat and documenting its condition, counting deer to be accurate in numbers, etc. Worth has a fear that with reports of the outbreak of epizootic hemorrhagic disease, in combination with hunting deer in Granville, it will decimate the deer population.

2. Educate the public and promote the value of deer. This would be done by “creating informational brochures that are not only “available” but are distributed to the library, schools, government offices and homeowners’ and farmers’ associations with an additional page to village and township Web sites; providing educational workshops; developing a media plan to provide timely information on deer and defensive driving tips, suited to the season; and developing an exhibit on deer and human-deer conflict issues to rotate around public locations.”

3. Granville should be a test site so researchers can use Granville’s deer to test contraceptive devices. (Of course this is humane treatment of animals)

4. We need to provide better “pedestrian” safe zones FOR THE DEER and use “humane” use of dogs and other scare devices. How? “Besides deer crossing signs, some Strieter Lite Reflectors on high-incident roadways could be installed and monitored for effectiveness; habitat modification is proven effective and some woody plants act as physical barriers; build wildlife underpasses or overpasses with exclusionary fencing and other wildlife-crossing features such as natural waterways for the Ohio 161 project or any other planned roadways through consults with ODOT; and use dogs, repellents, and scare devices humanely.”

5. Towns need to plan better to provide green space area for deer to travel safely to and from eating up your back yard and finding a good place to bed down for the night.

There are obvious things that can and should be undertaken in any community to educate its residents of certain risks and hazards. Most of what this person subscribes to has been tried and proven not to be effective. The one very large question I have is, how much is this going to cost and who’s going to foot the bill?

The costs will run into the millions if you implemented all those things and my crystal ball is telling me a hike in hunting license fees would be next on the agenda. Isn’t that always the way? Non hunters make their demands and hunters pay for it.

Someday, perhaps science will come up with a way to “humanely” keep deer populations in urban areas in check. Until then, use some common sense and good planning and let hunters, who will pay for the privilege, come in and do a good civic duty and take the deer away.

Somewhere in America there has to be a warehouse full of common sense because none is being sold and used. Let’s have a nationwide sale.

Tom Remington

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