A mild winter may be responsible for what looks like a baby boom in New Brunswick's deer population.
Rod Cumberland, the province's deer biologist, says numbers are up in certain areas of the province, including the Tobique River Valley, the Saint John-Kennebecasis River Valley and the Miramichi River Valley.
Cumberland says biologists are also seeing an increase in multiple births, with three sets of triplets found this year and four sets of quadruplets.
Single births and twins are common among deer.
Not only are there more fawns, more of them are surviving through the winter and early spring. Cumberland says the weather had a lot to do with that.
"The lack of snow, of course, is a good thing for deer, especially those that live this far north," he said. "Usually it's the tough winters that keep our deer population from growing a lot."
Researchers are now watching to see how many of the fawns survive the summer.
A previous study found 54 per cent of fawns don't make it to fall, but last year, only 30 per cent died.
Cumberland says that may mean a healthier deer population in New Brunswick.
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2007/07/12/nb-moredeer.html
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