Culling Deer

[blackraven]

I am quite upset because the local town I live near want to kill all the deer. I have deer in and around my property almost daily and I enjoy seeing them. In fact, there is never a time that when I see one or more deer that I still get excited. They are beautiful and majestic animals.

Just today I noticed an entire woods was torn down in order to expand the condo community that existed next to it. Now the woods are completely flattened. I can't help wonder how many different wildlife had their homes destroyed when the bulldozers came through today. People move next to the woods (such as myself), but then they complain to the town's counsel that they want the deer gone because they ate their flowers. I say plant deer-resistant plants.

Whatever happened to developing around wildlife habitats instead of bulldozing it altogether and then demanding that the wildlife leave or be killed? Got to say I'm disgusted with my fellow human's behavior.

I've been told I'm unrealistic and a daydreamer - that development for human housing is priority, but I don't think it should come at the expense of wildlife that already was there in the first place.

What are your feelings on this matter?

[Tobi]

If you're a dreamer then so am I. I don't like mankind's attitude towards the natural world either (generally.)

In a truly natural environment however, the deer would have natural predators, like wolves, possibly lynx etc. That would control their over population and ensure a more healthy strain.

But when mankind abhors the wolf, and kills off portions of the natural world, then they interfere further, and want to kill off the results??

It is a sad world, is all I know. My attitude is we should leave well alone.

People should fence their plants if they care about them that much. And tree-saplings can be wrapped with a protective sheath against the deer, until the trees have matured and the bark is too thick to nibble.

It depends on how much people really want to co-operate.

[blackraven]

Originally Posted by Tobi

If you're a dreamer then so am I. I don't like mankind's attitude towards the natural world either (generally.)

In a truly natural environment however, the deer would have natural predators, like wolves, possibly lynx etc. That would control their over population and ensure a more healthy strain.

But when mankind abhors the wolf, and kills off portions of the natural world, then they interfere further, and want to kill off the results??

It is a sad world, is all I know. My attitude is we should leave well alone.

People should fence their plants if they care about them that much. And tree-saplings can be wrapped with a protective sheath against the deer, until the trees have matured and the bark is too thick to nibble.

It depends on how much people really want to co-operate.

Nice to know there's another 'dreamer' out there, Tobi. I appreciate your reply. You make a valid point about the wolves, which is another issue itself as people don't like them either and they kill wolves even faster than deer. If there was ecological balance all would enter into a natural cycle of life and death. I just hate the disregard of wildlife and their homes, but power, greed and money drive development. The ones with their pockets lined with blood money don't really care about Bambi.

[LPC]

I share your exasperation with the views of those humans who think they have absolute right to push out wildlife from the habitat which they possessed for countless centuries, just so that they can have larger gardens or the property company wants to expand its profits by building more houses where woods currently are. Why can't those people complaining about the deer eating their flowers and shrubs simply put up some high fencing? We have wild deer near us, but have secure fencing (to protect our lambs from foxes, etc.) and have never had any problem at all.

If humans hadn't interfered in the first place, altering the balance of nature, this situation would never have arisen. Now they think that two wrongs can make a right....(It doesn't).

[blackraven]

Originally Posted by LPC

I share your exasperation with the views of those humans who think they have absolute right to push out wildlife from the habitat which they possessed for countless centuries, just so that they can have larger gardens or the property company wants to expand its profits by building more houses where woods currently are. Why can't those people complaining about the deer eating their flowers and shrubs simply put up some high fencing? We have wild deer near us, but have secure fencing (to protect our lambs from foxes, etc.) and have never had any problem at all.

If humans hadn't interfered in the first place, altering the balance of nature, this situation would never have arisen. Now they think that two wrongs can make a right....(It doesn't).

LPC - I agree that we should live with and around nature and preserve what is already in place. They were here first. I guess it all boils down to survival of the fittest and man has all the machinery to mull down forest for condos. I think your signature line says it all.

[Tobi]

There are wild deer where I live too. They also have no predators where I live. And yet I have noticed no over-population....
I have also noticed that trees continue to be healthy and varied, with indigenous species doing well. People usually fence their vegetable gardens, and even when they don't fence their flower gardens, deer do no harm there.
In the orchard across from me, all the young trees are fitted with sheaths around their trunks, until they grow, and burst the sheaths. I have never seen any damage done to those trees by deer. The orchard continues to flourish. And so do the deer. And so do peoples' vegetable gardens.

In the wilder woodlands, deer do exactly as they like. And have I seen any harm done? No I haven't.
There is no 'culling' except occasionally in certain woods, by illegal poachers. Well I heard of that years ago, but have seen no evidence of it recently. And the sad events which sometimes happen on the roads.

I have no idea why anyone would need to call for a deer cull!

[blackraven]

Originally Posted by Tobi

There are wild deer where I live too. They also have no predators where I live. And yet I have noticed no over-population....
I have also noticed that trees continue to be healthy and varied, with indigenous species doing well. People usually fence their vegetable gardens, and even when they don't fence their flower gardens, deer do no harm there.
In the orchard across from me, all the young trees are fitted with sheaths around their trunks, until they grow, and burst the sheaths. I have never seen any damage done to those trees by deer. The orchard continues to flourish. And so do the deer. And so do peoples' vegetable gardens.

In the wilder woodlands, deer do exactly as they like. And have I seen any harm done? No I haven't.
There is no 'culling' except occasionally in certain woods, by illegal poachers. Well I heard of that years ago, but have seen no evidence of it recently. And the sad events which sometimes happen on the roads.

I have no idea why anyone would need to call for a deer cull!

Sounds like where you live people and animals coexist in harmony. That's how it should be. The nearby town that wants to kill the deer is growing and growing in people population and the town is pushing further and further out into regions where builders are building high end over-sized homes and condos in wooded areas. The complaints I have read include deer eating vegetation and being a nuisance to drivers. I myself where I live always drive very slow and constantly scan both sides of the dirt road I live on for deer. I somewhat understand people getting upset when car accidents are caused and death occurs. The last car accident I saw involving a deer resulted in no injury to the driver, but the deer laid at the front end of her car at the shoulder of the road injured and suffering.

A few years back there was a mayor in office that passed a bill that would preserve green space around the outskirts of this town. But in time, with the influence of developers and investors, farmers started selling off their farm lands and woods to the highest bidder.

I don't know what the solution is. I just am a wildlife advocate and in watching families of deer around me have babies that take refuge in our back yard just feet from the woods, I witness the whole process. I watch how the deer study people and come out when activity is at its lowest, just before dawn and at sunset. They've learned to adjust their way of coexisting with us.

I can't help but think, what's next? Is every wild animal left on the planet going to be trapped and put in little zoos for people to pay to see them in unnatural habitat, fenced in?