Hoping to curtail the spread of Lyme disease, the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials — spurred on by Redding’s first selectman — is urging the governor to set policies to reduce the state’s deer population.
First Selectman Natalie Ketcham, a former council chairman, drafted a letter to Gov. M Jodi Rell asking her to bring together the Department of Public Health (DPH) with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to come up with a plan to address the deer overpopulation problem. Deer ticks, which commonly carry Lyme disease, are spread by the deer that wander through the state’s woodlands.
Citing the aggressive tactics taken to control the mosquito population to stop the spread of West Nile virus, Ms. Ketcham said the state should take similarly strong steps to combat Lyme disease.
“While I think there have been maybe five confirmed cases of West Nile in the past two years, recent reports have Lyme disease affecting more than 60,000 residents annually in Connecticut. So I thought that perhaps we should request that the governor bring her state agencies together to draft a plan to attack and, hopefully, eliminate Lyme disease from the state,” said Ms. Ketcham.
The disease has severe short-term and long-term consequences for those who contract it. Lyme disease can cause flu-like symptoms including fatigue, headache, fever and achy muscles and joints, according to the state Department of Public Health’s Web site. Untreated, it can cause arthritis, neurologic problems and heart problems.
Lyme disease, along with ehrlichiosis and babesiosis, which are similar tick-borne infections, are the dominant reportable diseases found in the town every year, said Doug Hartline, Redding’s health director.
In 2006, Redding sent 51 ticks to the state’s Agricultural Experiment Station for testing. Of those, 22 were tested and eight were positive for Lyme — a rate of 36.4%, according to state entomologist Dr. Kirby Stafford, who was interviewed by The Pilot earlier this year.
Statewide 4,855 deer ticks were sent in for testing last year. Of those, some 2,314 were tested and 520 carried Lyme disease.
“That’s a rate of about 22%,” said Dr. Stafford.
The town health department has been disseminating literature to educate homeowners about strategies they can use to groom their properties in a manner that is less enticing to deer.
“Residents should keep their lawns cut low and take away any of the leaf litter. Creating a wood chip perimeter around your yard area also helps to lessen the quantity of ticks on your property,” said Mr. Hartline.
Deer aren’t the only carriers of ticks, however. Mice and chipmunks that thrive in stone walls and wood piles are also known to spread ticks. To keep their numbers down, Mr. Hartline suggests eliminating bird feeders and keeping wood piles away from the house.
Still, deer are the major tick carriers and the towns in the state that have successfully controlled the herds have also quelled the spread of the disease.
Deer management alliance
The Fairfield County Municipal Deer Management Alliance, a consortium of 15 Fairfield County towns, is working to promote regional deer management. The group encourages towns to participate and become informed about the problems of excess deer and the methods commonly used to reduce deer population.
“We’re trying to inform people about the communities that have successfully reduced their deer population and have consequently successfully stopped Lyme disease,” said Georgina Scholl, Redding’s representative on the alliance.
Mumford Cove and Groton Long Point, communities located along the Connecticut coast, are examples of towns that have eliminated the Lyme disease problem through controlled hunts. Their methods are documented in the state DEP’s deer management brochure.
The alliance’s main goal is educate the public about the benefits of controlling the deer herd. The Housatonic Valley Council says that a “lack of factual information in the public realm is handicapping” the effort.
The state DEP has been unable to make any “real inroads” in keeping down the deer numbers, “due to the lack of public understanding of the need to reduce the deer herd significantly,” the Housatonic Valley council says in the letter to the governor.
“Public attitudes to our hunters are still focused on sport and they have yet to see hunters as our partners in the battle against Lyme disease and woodland destruction,” it continues.
The dilemma, the council members agree, is that neither the DPH nor the DEP regards the deer herd and the Lyme disease problem as under their jurisdiction.
“The Department of Public Health recognizes that this is a public health threat, but feels that because it’s caused by a tick that is borne by deer, it more an issue for the DEP. And the DEP has taken the position that it’s really a public health threat and therefore in the province of Department of Public Health,” said Ms. Ketcham. “With this letter, we’re asking the governor to bring the two commissions together to formulate a plan.”
The letter was unanimously approved by the council last Friday and is set to be sent to the governor this week once the needed signatures are collected.
Ms. Ketcham has also sent the letter to the council’s counterpart, the Southwestern Regional Planning Agency in lower Fairfield County.
Residents interested in obtaining more information about deer control may pick up the DEP’s deer management brochure, which is available at the health department, town hall, and the Mark Twain Library.
Source: http://www.acorn-online.com/news/publish/redding/23201.shtml
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
NEW JERSEY NEWS: EHD Is Here, Too
Ed. note: It seems likely that climate change will continue to push EHD north, and these types of outbreaks should become increasingly common in the next 10-15 years.
Deer continue to fall victim to an outbreak of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) in some parts of the state, and even the animals that are not killed are likely to suffer permanent damage if infected by the virus.
The state Division of Fish and Wildlife yesterday released an update on the EHD breakout first publicized two weeks ago, about two weeks after biologists began studying reports of sick and dying deer.
The first outbreak, investigated Sept. 7, involved 15 dead deer discovered by hunters in Hillsborough Township. Yesterday, Fish and Wildlife reported eight more dead deer were found during a Sept. 12 search along Royce Brook, described as being the main drainage area for the 500-acre tract where the first group was found.
Seven days later, scientists confirmed the deer died from EHD, a nasty illness that causes high fevers and hemorrhages in the mouths, noses and eyes and can kill a deer in less than 10 days. The virus is spread by small, biting flies called midges. It does not affect humans, but hunters should not consider eating meat from any deer that appears unhealthy.
Fish and Wildlife said the Sept. 19 diagnosis showed the deer died from the serotype 2 EHD virus. "This is the first time serotype 2 EHD has been found in New Jersey," it said.
All prior New Jersey outbreaks of EHD -- in 1955 in the Passaic River drainage area, in 1975 in the Paulinskill and Pequest River drainage areas and in 1999 in the Salem and Rancocas River drainages -- were caused by the serotype 1 EHD virus.
"Serotype 2 is commonly isolated from deer in Southern Florida, Texas and Mexico," said the division. It said deer from those areas seem to have developed a resistance to type 2 which is actually a bit less virulent than type 1.
The Sept. 12 discovery was not the last. Five days later, hunters found 12 dead deer along Cumberland County's Manantico River. Biologists investigating the scene found two additional deer carcasses and heard reports of six others in Pittsgrove Township.
On Sunday, canoeists reported seeing about 15 dead deer on the Mullica River in Wharton State Park near Hammonton and Shamong. "The carcasses were reportedly found by smell," noted Fish and Wildlife, which said the animals are now being tested for EHD.
Biologists believe the midges that are causing EHD are hatching from drying mud flats, a situation exacerbated by the current spell of hot and dry weather. New Jersey's deer are not alone in dealing with the disease this year as outbreaks are being reported in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina, New York and elsewhere.
It will take a good frost to kill the insects that are spreading the virus. Meanwhile, anybody coming across sick or dead deer should call Fish and Wildlife's Office of Fish and Wildlife Health and Forensics at (908) 735-6398.
Source: http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1190780850300800.xml&coll=1
Deer continue to fall victim to an outbreak of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) in some parts of the state, and even the animals that are not killed are likely to suffer permanent damage if infected by the virus.
The state Division of Fish and Wildlife yesterday released an update on the EHD breakout first publicized two weeks ago, about two weeks after biologists began studying reports of sick and dying deer.
The first outbreak, investigated Sept. 7, involved 15 dead deer discovered by hunters in Hillsborough Township. Yesterday, Fish and Wildlife reported eight more dead deer were found during a Sept. 12 search along Royce Brook, described as being the main drainage area for the 500-acre tract where the first group was found.
Seven days later, scientists confirmed the deer died from EHD, a nasty illness that causes high fevers and hemorrhages in the mouths, noses and eyes and can kill a deer in less than 10 days. The virus is spread by small, biting flies called midges. It does not affect humans, but hunters should not consider eating meat from any deer that appears unhealthy.
Fish and Wildlife said the Sept. 19 diagnosis showed the deer died from the serotype 2 EHD virus. "This is the first time serotype 2 EHD has been found in New Jersey," it said.
All prior New Jersey outbreaks of EHD -- in 1955 in the Passaic River drainage area, in 1975 in the Paulinskill and Pequest River drainage areas and in 1999 in the Salem and Rancocas River drainages -- were caused by the serotype 1 EHD virus.
"Serotype 2 is commonly isolated from deer in Southern Florida, Texas and Mexico," said the division. It said deer from those areas seem to have developed a resistance to type 2 which is actually a bit less virulent than type 1.
The Sept. 12 discovery was not the last. Five days later, hunters found 12 dead deer along Cumberland County's Manantico River. Biologists investigating the scene found two additional deer carcasses and heard reports of six others in Pittsgrove Township.
On Sunday, canoeists reported seeing about 15 dead deer on the Mullica River in Wharton State Park near Hammonton and Shamong. "The carcasses were reportedly found by smell," noted Fish and Wildlife, which said the animals are now being tested for EHD.
Biologists believe the midges that are causing EHD are hatching from drying mud flats, a situation exacerbated by the current spell of hot and dry weather. New Jersey's deer are not alone in dealing with the disease this year as outbreaks are being reported in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina, New York and elsewhere.
It will take a good frost to kill the insects that are spreading the virus. Meanwhile, anybody coming across sick or dead deer should call Fish and Wildlife's Office of Fish and Wildlife Health and Forensics at (908) 735-6398.
Source: http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1190780850300800.xml&coll=1
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: Deer Reduction Continues at Gettysburg
The National Park Service will pursue a less vigorous deer hunt this year at Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site than in previous years, thanks to what it says is the success of the program.
Last year's deer survey showed that the Park Service achieved its goal of reducing the herd's density to 25 deer per square mile, said park spokeswoman Katie Lawhon.
Lawhon said the Park Service, biologists, and the state concluded in 1995 - when the deer survey estimated that the park had 333 deer per square mile - that the park's landscape could support 25 deer per square mile.
But the deer have no natural predators on or near park land, and their numbers would grow without management, Lawhon said.
She said the Park Service aims to shoot 115 deer between October and March, down from 200 in 2004, when the park had 31 deer per square mile.
Those goals decreased with the deer's density. The park estimated 26 deer per square mile in 2005, Lawhon said.
Lawhon estimated that this year's program would cost about $5,948, excluding man hours, which is what it cost last year.
Lawhon said thinning the herd benefits the park.
"The intense browsing by deer was threatening the future of the wood lots because there were very few younger trees that managed to live or thrive," Lawhon said.
Lawhon said the deer also threatened the Park Service's agricultural program, where local farmers maintain farm fields that are part of the park.
"We found that there was so much damage to the crops that it was becoming less and less worthwhile for the farmer to lease the field," Lawhon said.
Lawhon said without local farmers cultivating the fields, the park would lose its 1863 agricultural appearance and make it harder for visitors to understand the landscape.
The Park Service also had a high number of car accidents involving deer when the animals roamed the park in large numbers, Lawhon said.
Lawhon said park employees shoot only antlerless deer to leave those with antlers for hunters on nearby land.
She stressed that this is not a public hunting opportunity. Only qualified federal employees are allowed to shoot deer on national park land in the herd-reducing effort.
The Park Service pays to have the deer butchered, and donates the meat to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank in Harrisburg, Lawhon said.
Last year's deer survey showed that the Park Service achieved its goal of reducing the herd's density to 25 deer per square mile, said park spokeswoman Katie Lawhon.
Lawhon said the Park Service, biologists, and the state concluded in 1995 - when the deer survey estimated that the park had 333 deer per square mile - that the park's landscape could support 25 deer per square mile.
But the deer have no natural predators on or near park land, and their numbers would grow without management, Lawhon said.
She said the Park Service aims to shoot 115 deer between October and March, down from 200 in 2004, when the park had 31 deer per square mile.
Those goals decreased with the deer's density. The park estimated 26 deer per square mile in 2005, Lawhon said.
Lawhon estimated that this year's program would cost about $5,948, excluding man hours, which is what it cost last year.
Lawhon said thinning the herd benefits the park.
"The intense browsing by deer was threatening the future of the wood lots because there were very few younger trees that managed to live or thrive," Lawhon said.
Lawhon said the deer also threatened the Park Service's agricultural program, where local farmers maintain farm fields that are part of the park.
"We found that there was so much damage to the crops that it was becoming less and less worthwhile for the farmer to lease the field," Lawhon said.
Lawhon said without local farmers cultivating the fields, the park would lose its 1863 agricultural appearance and make it harder for visitors to understand the landscape.
The Park Service also had a high number of car accidents involving deer when the animals roamed the park in large numbers, Lawhon said.
Lawhon said park employees shoot only antlerless deer to leave those with antlers for hunters on nearby land.
She stressed that this is not a public hunting opportunity. Only qualified federal employees are allowed to shoot deer on national park land in the herd-reducing effort.
The Park Service pays to have the deer butchered, and donates the meat to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank in Harrisburg, Lawhon said.
PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: Unified Sportsmen of PA Sues Game Commission (Again)
For the second time in two years, the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit it hopes will derail the Game Commission's controversial deer-management plan and allow the state's whitetail population to expand.
Unified's suit, filed Sept. 7 at Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg, says the commission used inadequate scientific data in determining the number of licenses available to hunt antlerless deer. Unified also is asking the court to issue an injunction that would halt all antlerless deer hunting on State Game Lands and State Forests until the commission gathers additional data on deer populations and reproductive success.
''The commission readily acknowledges they do not know how many deer exist in Pennsylvania and have resorted to subjective and ambiguous evaluations to determine deer densities rather than sound, scientific and numerical data,'' Unified Chairman Gregory Levengood of Boyertown said in a news release. ''Such unconventional and careless decision making has resulted in a dramatic, and quite possibly an unsustainable, decline of our public land deer herd.''
Commission officials dismissed Unified's suit as baseless and harmful to sportsmen.
''Unified once again is attempting to waste the Game Commission's limited resources on frivolous lawsuits that have no merit,'' Joseph J. Neville, director of the agency's Bureau of Information and Education, said in a prepared statement.
''Such a lawsuit, filed at this late date, only serves to create confusion for hunters looking forward to hunting seasons. This lawsuit also will result in a diversion of money and staff time that could be better spent managing the state's wildlife resources.''
Unified attorney Charles B. Haws of Reading said the commission has until Oct. 10 to file its initial response with the court. No hearings have been scheduled, and despite Unified's request for an injunction to block doe hunting on public land, Haws said it is unlikely the suit will have any short-term impact on deer-hunting activity.
''There would have to be a hearing regarding the merits of our complaint before the court could issue an injunction,'' Haws said. ''That could take a year. It could take less. It could take more. It depends on how vigorous the debate is between the parties.''
The lawsuit signals the start of a new round in an ongoing battle between the commission and Unified, a statewide hunting organization that says it represents more than 30,000 members.
In recent years, Unified has been the most vocal critic of the commission's deer program, and Unified filed a similar lawsuit against the agency in 2005. Although the legal arguments in that were eventually rejected by a judge, the court ruled that Unified and other sportsmen's groups have legal standing to challenge commission policies.
Commission biologists say the deer-management program is designed to balance white-tail populations with available habitat to limit the damage caused by deer eating small trees, agricultural crops and landscaping. Officials say their goals are to produce healthy deer and healthy habitat while also reducing the number of deer-human conflicts.
But in its lawsuit, Unified alleges the management program relies too much on ''qualitative'' data such as the results of forest regeneration surveys and not enough on ''quantitative'' data such as deer densities and reproductive success.
Therefore, Unified says, the agency does not have sufficient data to make credible deer-management decisions, and as such, there is no legitimate basis for the agency's decision to allocate 865,000 general antlerless licenses for the 2007-08 hunting season, plus an additional 19,136 licenses provided to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources specifically for State Parks and State Forests under the Deer Management Assistance Program.
The suit alleges that because the commission doesn't have enough data, the agency has abused its discretion in making arbitrary antlerless license decisions and violated its legally mandated duty to promote Pennsylvania's hunting heritage.
''By improperly authorizing the killing of too many antlerless deer, [the commission] has improperly reduced the Pennsylvania deer herd below its natural and appropriate population and, as a result, [the commission] has failed to provide an adequate opportunity for the members of USP to hunt deer,'' the suit states.
Unified is asking the court to halt all antlerless deer hunting on State Game Lands and State Forests and order the commission to gather comprehensive, statewide data on deer reproduction and deer population densities.
Haws said Unified is not seeking to halt antlerless deer hunting on private land because the group supports landowner rights and also believes most property owners do a good job of balancing deer numbers.
''If the [commission] would manage public land deer as well as private landowners manage the deer on their land, we wouldn't have any problems,'' Levengood wrote in an e-mail about the suit.
There are about 950,000 hunters in Pennsylvania, according to the commission's 2006 license sales data.
Source: http://www.mcall.com/sports/outdoors/all-lawsuit0918.6039654sep18,0,5586678.story
Unified's suit, filed Sept. 7 at Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg, says the commission used inadequate scientific data in determining the number of licenses available to hunt antlerless deer. Unified also is asking the court to issue an injunction that would halt all antlerless deer hunting on State Game Lands and State Forests until the commission gathers additional data on deer populations and reproductive success.
''The commission readily acknowledges they do not know how many deer exist in Pennsylvania and have resorted to subjective and ambiguous evaluations to determine deer densities rather than sound, scientific and numerical data,'' Unified Chairman Gregory Levengood of Boyertown said in a news release. ''Such unconventional and careless decision making has resulted in a dramatic, and quite possibly an unsustainable, decline of our public land deer herd.''
Commission officials dismissed Unified's suit as baseless and harmful to sportsmen.
''Unified once again is attempting to waste the Game Commission's limited resources on frivolous lawsuits that have no merit,'' Joseph J. Neville, director of the agency's Bureau of Information and Education, said in a prepared statement.
''Such a lawsuit, filed at this late date, only serves to create confusion for hunters looking forward to hunting seasons. This lawsuit also will result in a diversion of money and staff time that could be better spent managing the state's wildlife resources.''
Unified attorney Charles B. Haws of Reading said the commission has until Oct. 10 to file its initial response with the court. No hearings have been scheduled, and despite Unified's request for an injunction to block doe hunting on public land, Haws said it is unlikely the suit will have any short-term impact on deer-hunting activity.
''There would have to be a hearing regarding the merits of our complaint before the court could issue an injunction,'' Haws said. ''That could take a year. It could take less. It could take more. It depends on how vigorous the debate is between the parties.''
The lawsuit signals the start of a new round in an ongoing battle between the commission and Unified, a statewide hunting organization that says it represents more than 30,000 members.
In recent years, Unified has been the most vocal critic of the commission's deer program, and Unified filed a similar lawsuit against the agency in 2005. Although the legal arguments in that were eventually rejected by a judge, the court ruled that Unified and other sportsmen's groups have legal standing to challenge commission policies.
Commission biologists say the deer-management program is designed to balance white-tail populations with available habitat to limit the damage caused by deer eating small trees, agricultural crops and landscaping. Officials say their goals are to produce healthy deer and healthy habitat while also reducing the number of deer-human conflicts.
But in its lawsuit, Unified alleges the management program relies too much on ''qualitative'' data such as the results of forest regeneration surveys and not enough on ''quantitative'' data such as deer densities and reproductive success.
Therefore, Unified says, the agency does not have sufficient data to make credible deer-management decisions, and as such, there is no legitimate basis for the agency's decision to allocate 865,000 general antlerless licenses for the 2007-08 hunting season, plus an additional 19,136 licenses provided to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources specifically for State Parks and State Forests under the Deer Management Assistance Program.
The suit alleges that because the commission doesn't have enough data, the agency has abused its discretion in making arbitrary antlerless license decisions and violated its legally mandated duty to promote Pennsylvania's hunting heritage.
''By improperly authorizing the killing of too many antlerless deer, [the commission] has improperly reduced the Pennsylvania deer herd below its natural and appropriate population and, as a result, [the commission] has failed to provide an adequate opportunity for the members of USP to hunt deer,'' the suit states.
Unified is asking the court to halt all antlerless deer hunting on State Game Lands and State Forests and order the commission to gather comprehensive, statewide data on deer reproduction and deer population densities.
Haws said Unified is not seeking to halt antlerless deer hunting on private land because the group supports landowner rights and also believes most property owners do a good job of balancing deer numbers.
''If the [commission] would manage public land deer as well as private landowners manage the deer on their land, we wouldn't have any problems,'' Levengood wrote in an e-mail about the suit.
There are about 950,000 hunters in Pennsylvania, according to the commission's 2006 license sales data.
Source: http://www.mcall.com/sports/outdoors/all-lawsuit0918.6039654sep18,0,5586678.story
Monday, September 17, 2007
NEW JERSEY NEWS: State Cost-Sharing Deer Fence Construction for Farmers
ANDOVER — It is the eternal farmer question: How much can I afford to let the wildlife eat?
A few years ago, John Elwood decided the deer in his neighborhood had eaten enough.
Elwood, who owns Good Hand Farm on Brighton Road, applied to the state and got grant money to help him install a deer fence. Since then, he said the deer have been on a rigid diet, no more of his organic garden.
The state Department of Agriculture is now accepting applications for the 2007 deer fence program. If accepted, farmers can get fencing material and up to 30 percent of the cost of line posts needed for installation.
Deadline for applications is Oct. 7 and forms are available from local extension and soil conservation district offices. Further information is available through the Agriculture Department Web site, www.state.nj.us/agriculture/news and click on "news releases" in the left column.
Unlike most fencing, which is about three to four feet high and meant to keep livestock in, wildlife fencing comes in rolls up to eight feet tall and is woven, with smaller spaces near the bottom, meant to keep out small wildlife, such as rabbits, woodchucks and skunks. In most installations, the woven wire is topped by two or three single strands of wire to keep out deer, which can leap more than eight feet high.
The fencing program was developed at Rutgers Cooperative Extension and is cosponsored by the Agriculture Department. This will be the third time the program will be offered and first year it will have a new/beginning farmer category.
In the first two years, about 150 farmers across the state received help with the fence.
According to Rutgers scientists, about 70 percent of crop loss in the state can be blamed on deer with a dollar loss estimated at between $5 million and $10 million each year.
Among the eligibility requirements are that a farmer must document a minimum of $40,000 in agricultural sales or $20,000 in sales of organic products ($5,000 for new/beginner farmer); have not participated in the previous fence program; be the owner of the land or have documented proof of renting preserved farmland; and attend a mandatory fence workshop.
If properly installed, a deer fence will last up to 30 years and the cost can be amortized on the farmer's tax returns.
Elwood chose to enclose about 10 acres of his farm, which sits smack in the middle of excellent deer country. That plot contains the organic garden where he grows produce for sale. "You can't afford to enclose too much of an area," he said. "For some crops, such as hay and corn, you just have to accept that the deer will eat some."
That decision, he said, is an economic one. Some crops, such as hay, have a lower return per acre while an organic garden has a much higher return. Unfenced at his farm is a 10-acre pasture for horses and a 22-acre hay field.
Elwood said a neighbor, Bob Cahill, also has a deer fence for protection, but his crop is the wide variety of plants he grows for his landscaping business.
"The system is entirely effective," he said, then laughed, "except when the owner gets stupid and leaves the gate open."
Source: http://www.njherald.com/362084244931398.php
A few years ago, John Elwood decided the deer in his neighborhood had eaten enough.
Elwood, who owns Good Hand Farm on Brighton Road, applied to the state and got grant money to help him install a deer fence. Since then, he said the deer have been on a rigid diet, no more of his organic garden.
The state Department of Agriculture is now accepting applications for the 2007 deer fence program. If accepted, farmers can get fencing material and up to 30 percent of the cost of line posts needed for installation.
Deadline for applications is Oct. 7 and forms are available from local extension and soil conservation district offices. Further information is available through the Agriculture Department Web site, www.state.nj.us/agriculture/news and click on "news releases" in the left column.
Unlike most fencing, which is about three to four feet high and meant to keep livestock in, wildlife fencing comes in rolls up to eight feet tall and is woven, with smaller spaces near the bottom, meant to keep out small wildlife, such as rabbits, woodchucks and skunks. In most installations, the woven wire is topped by two or three single strands of wire to keep out deer, which can leap more than eight feet high.
The fencing program was developed at Rutgers Cooperative Extension and is cosponsored by the Agriculture Department. This will be the third time the program will be offered and first year it will have a new/beginning farmer category.
In the first two years, about 150 farmers across the state received help with the fence.
According to Rutgers scientists, about 70 percent of crop loss in the state can be blamed on deer with a dollar loss estimated at between $5 million and $10 million each year.
Among the eligibility requirements are that a farmer must document a minimum of $40,000 in agricultural sales or $20,000 in sales of organic products ($5,000 for new/beginner farmer); have not participated in the previous fence program; be the owner of the land or have documented proof of renting preserved farmland; and attend a mandatory fence workshop.
If properly installed, a deer fence will last up to 30 years and the cost can be amortized on the farmer's tax returns.
Elwood chose to enclose about 10 acres of his farm, which sits smack in the middle of excellent deer country. That plot contains the organic garden where he grows produce for sale. "You can't afford to enclose too much of an area," he said. "For some crops, such as hay and corn, you just have to accept that the deer will eat some."
That decision, he said, is an economic one. Some crops, such as hay, have a lower return per acre while an organic garden has a much higher return. Unfenced at his farm is a 10-acre pasture for horses and a 22-acre hay field.
Elwood said a neighbor, Bob Cahill, also has a deer fence for protection, but his crop is the wide variety of plants he grows for his landscaping business.
"The system is entirely effective," he said, then laughed, "except when the owner gets stupid and leaves the gate open."
Source: http://www.njherald.com/362084244931398.php
NEW ZEALAND NEWS: 200 Fallow Deer Illegally Released
Forest and Bird are concerned about irresponsible behaviour by what they call an extremist element in the hunting community. Spokesman Kevin Hackwell says 200 fallow deer were recently trucked to Taranaki and illegally released, risking the spread of bovine TB on farms in the area.
He says the release of the deer could have a devastating effect on native forest in the nearby Wanganui National Park. Groups of hunters have also recently threatened to kill kiwi in the Tongariro Forest, and planted 1080 poison in public parks near Wellington, killing a pet dog.
Kevin Hackwell says these incidents show a minority of hunters are prepared to put their own interests before all else. He says everyday hunters would likely be appalled by their actions.
Source: http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=124348
He says the release of the deer could have a devastating effect on native forest in the nearby Wanganui National Park. Groups of hunters have also recently threatened to kill kiwi in the Tongariro Forest, and planted 1080 poison in public parks near Wellington, killing a pet dog.
Kevin Hackwell says these incidents show a minority of hunters are prepared to put their own interests before all else. He says everyday hunters would likely be appalled by their actions.
Source: http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=124348
MISSOURI NEWS: More Deer in the Burbs
TOWN AND COUNTRY — As if on cue, the little white-speckled deer crept across a nearby lawn.
Don Meyer stood in his garden next to the hostas that had been nibbled to the ground. He peered through a chicken-wire fence searching for others in the battalion of Bambis that had feasted on his lilies and impatiens.
He knew they were out there.
"That's the fawn," he said, lowering his voice. "There should be two more."
It seemed an idyllic scene, one that has drawn people for years to this pastoral city of 10,894 residents — the towering oak trees, the rustle of squirrels scurrying across dead leaves, the early evening sun hitting the fawn's reddish coat.
But many residents, including Meyer, have a hard time mustering fondness for any deer, a graceful symbol of all that is good in pastoral suburbia. With the deer population surging, the animals are destroying prized gardens and flower beds and darting in front of SUVs.
Apparently, they can't take a hint, either.
Meyer has thrown yard tools at the deer, yelled at them, honked his car horn, anything to scare them off. But they just keep coming.
"They're too used to humans," Meyer said. "If I hear my wife blowing her horn in the morning, it means she can't get up the driveway because there's a deer."
Recently, some residents have urged city leaders to do something, such as allowing bow hunters to set up shop in backyards. Others want the animals netted and slaughtered.
The Missouri Department of Conservation recommends a deer population no higher than 25 per square mile. According to a 2004 head count, Town and Country had 68 deer per square mile.
Since then, the number of deer has likely grown significantly, said Tom Meister, a wildlife damage biologist with the Department of Conservation.
"The only population control is the automobile," he said.
The large residential lots in Town and Country offer deer more food sources and places to hide, Meister said. He also believes that a spring frost earlier this year may have killed vegetation, pushing deer to find food in people's yards.
In a region where new subdivisions continue to encroach on wildlife habitat, Meister has seen it all — the geese that invade playgrounds and ruin recess for schoolchildren, coyotes that snatch pets and beavers that dam up creeks.
"I've got a meeting with the city of Union about a muskrat problem," he said last week.
Controlling wildlife in an urban setting is often a series of experiments. Town and Country already tried once to control its deer population.
From 1999 to 2001, the city trapped and relocated 233 deer at a cost of roughly $360 per deer. The program was seen as a humane way to remove the deer. But a study of the first year of the program found that 20 percent had died from the stress of being captured.
The Department of Conservation ended the program over concerns about spreading disease.
Meanwhile, some Town and Country residents look enviously at cities such as Clarkson Valley, Chesterfield and Wildwood that allow controlled hunting. During the past four years, bow hunters have claimed more than 200 deer in Clarkson Valley, a city of 2,675 residents.
"We think it's worked," said Mayor Scott Douglas, noting that residents are reporting fewer problems.
But Meister says it's too early to say how effective urban hunting programs have been. Before hunting began, Clarkson Valley had a deer population of about 85 per square mile. The Department of Conservation has yet to conduct another deer count.
Not everyone in Town and Country agrees the deer are a problem.
"I think we are equally divided on the issue," said Bruni Perez, a member of the Town and Country Conservation Commission. "The deer come and go through my property, and I've been able to make it work. We co-exist peacefully."
If residents have problems with deer eating their vegetation, they should consider replacing it with plants the deer dislike, such as daffodils and peonies, Perez said.
Bill Kuehling, an alderman and chairman of the city's Conservation Commission, doesn't believe hunting is the answer.
"Who would we allow to hunt and how would that be decided?" he said. "I don't think the city is going to be in the business of giving hunting tests."
Instead he supports the city running a captive bolting program. That's where the deer are captured in traps and killed with a device that shoots a bolt into their brains, just like at a slaughterhouse.
It has been done in Town and Country before.
Joseph Williamson, a retired doctor, received a permit from the Department of Conservation a few years ago to trap and bolt deer in his yard.
"We had tried every repellent," he said. "The main reason we wanted to move (here) was to garden. … They were eating everything."
Over a three-year period, Williamson trapped and killed 23 deer, which reduced the amount of damage. But after that, the trap failed to net a deer for two straight years, and Williamson didn't renew his permit.
Now he has an electric fence surrounding his yard, but the deer still sneak in. This year, three does gave birth in his yard. "That's just on one acre," he said.
Four weeks ago, Meyer put up a chicken wire fence around his home, but wishes he could do more to protect what's left of his plants.
"If I had a .30-30 (rifle) and was allowed to shoot here," he said, "I wouldn't have any deer."
Source:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/1B033963201308B28625735900095160?OpenDocument
Don Meyer stood in his garden next to the hostas that had been nibbled to the ground. He peered through a chicken-wire fence searching for others in the battalion of Bambis that had feasted on his lilies and impatiens.
He knew they were out there.
"That's the fawn," he said, lowering his voice. "There should be two more."
It seemed an idyllic scene, one that has drawn people for years to this pastoral city of 10,894 residents — the towering oak trees, the rustle of squirrels scurrying across dead leaves, the early evening sun hitting the fawn's reddish coat.
But many residents, including Meyer, have a hard time mustering fondness for any deer, a graceful symbol of all that is good in pastoral suburbia. With the deer population surging, the animals are destroying prized gardens and flower beds and darting in front of SUVs.
Apparently, they can't take a hint, either.
Meyer has thrown yard tools at the deer, yelled at them, honked his car horn, anything to scare them off. But they just keep coming.
"They're too used to humans," Meyer said. "If I hear my wife blowing her horn in the morning, it means she can't get up the driveway because there's a deer."
Recently, some residents have urged city leaders to do something, such as allowing bow hunters to set up shop in backyards. Others want the animals netted and slaughtered.
The Missouri Department of Conservation recommends a deer population no higher than 25 per square mile. According to a 2004 head count, Town and Country had 68 deer per square mile.
Since then, the number of deer has likely grown significantly, said Tom Meister, a wildlife damage biologist with the Department of Conservation.
"The only population control is the automobile," he said.
The large residential lots in Town and Country offer deer more food sources and places to hide, Meister said. He also believes that a spring frost earlier this year may have killed vegetation, pushing deer to find food in people's yards.
In a region where new subdivisions continue to encroach on wildlife habitat, Meister has seen it all — the geese that invade playgrounds and ruin recess for schoolchildren, coyotes that snatch pets and beavers that dam up creeks.
"I've got a meeting with the city of Union about a muskrat problem," he said last week.
Controlling wildlife in an urban setting is often a series of experiments. Town and Country already tried once to control its deer population.
From 1999 to 2001, the city trapped and relocated 233 deer at a cost of roughly $360 per deer. The program was seen as a humane way to remove the deer. But a study of the first year of the program found that 20 percent had died from the stress of being captured.
The Department of Conservation ended the program over concerns about spreading disease.
Meanwhile, some Town and Country residents look enviously at cities such as Clarkson Valley, Chesterfield and Wildwood that allow controlled hunting. During the past four years, bow hunters have claimed more than 200 deer in Clarkson Valley, a city of 2,675 residents.
"We think it's worked," said Mayor Scott Douglas, noting that residents are reporting fewer problems.
But Meister says it's too early to say how effective urban hunting programs have been. Before hunting began, Clarkson Valley had a deer population of about 85 per square mile. The Department of Conservation has yet to conduct another deer count.
Not everyone in Town and Country agrees the deer are a problem.
"I think we are equally divided on the issue," said Bruni Perez, a member of the Town and Country Conservation Commission. "The deer come and go through my property, and I've been able to make it work. We co-exist peacefully."
If residents have problems with deer eating their vegetation, they should consider replacing it with plants the deer dislike, such as daffodils and peonies, Perez said.
Bill Kuehling, an alderman and chairman of the city's Conservation Commission, doesn't believe hunting is the answer.
"Who would we allow to hunt and how would that be decided?" he said. "I don't think the city is going to be in the business of giving hunting tests."
Instead he supports the city running a captive bolting program. That's where the deer are captured in traps and killed with a device that shoots a bolt into their brains, just like at a slaughterhouse.
It has been done in Town and Country before.
Joseph Williamson, a retired doctor, received a permit from the Department of Conservation a few years ago to trap and bolt deer in his yard.
"We had tried every repellent," he said. "The main reason we wanted to move (here) was to garden. … They were eating everything."
Over a three-year period, Williamson trapped and killed 23 deer, which reduced the amount of damage. But after that, the trap failed to net a deer for two straight years, and Williamson didn't renew his permit.
Now he has an electric fence surrounding his yard, but the deer still sneak in. This year, three does gave birth in his yard. "That's just on one acre," he said.
Four weeks ago, Meyer put up a chicken wire fence around his home, but wishes he could do more to protect what's left of his plants.
"If I had a .30-30 (rifle) and was allowed to shoot here," he said, "I wouldn't have any deer."
Source:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/1B033963201308B28625735900095160?OpenDocument
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: EHD Spreading, Hundreds of Deer Die
Early this week, Pennsylvania Game Commission officials confirmed the deaths of several hundred deer in four western Pennsylvania counties. Dr. Walter Cottrell, PGC's wildlife veterinarian, says test results confirm that Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease is the likely cause.
So far, the deer losses have been confined to Allegheny, Beaver, Greene and Washington counties. But EHD deaths are also occurring in numerous other states, including Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Virginia and West Virginia.
EHD is contracted from "biting midges." In northern states, it usually kills the animal within 5 to 10 days. While it's not infectious to humans, deer displaying severe symptoms – excessive drooling, weakness and lack of fear of humans, they usually aren't suitable for consumption, says Cottrell.
"Hunters need to know that EHD cannot be contracted by humans," assures Cottrell. "It's also extremely rare, and highly unlikely, for this virus to cause clinical signs in cattle, sheep or goats." He also stresses that while some EHD symptoms are similar to those of chronic wasting disease, there's no relationship between EHD and CWD.
EHD can be amplified by anything that serves to congregate deer, such as supplemental feeding, he adds. "Such activities should be discontinued immediately."
While there's no evidence that humans can acquire the disease by field-dressing a deer, hunters are encouraged to wear rubber or latex gloves when handling or field-dressing an animal.
Tissue samples must be extracted within 24 hours of death for testing. That's why Cottrell urges reporting of losses to game offices as soon as possible.
The good news is that the EHD outbreak should end with the onset of colder weather, suggests Cottrell.
Source: http://americanagriculturist.com/index.aspx?ascxid=fpStory&fpsid=29890&fpstid=2
So far, the deer losses have been confined to Allegheny, Beaver, Greene and Washington counties. But EHD deaths are also occurring in numerous other states, including Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Virginia and West Virginia.
EHD is contracted from "biting midges." In northern states, it usually kills the animal within 5 to 10 days. While it's not infectious to humans, deer displaying severe symptoms – excessive drooling, weakness and lack of fear of humans, they usually aren't suitable for consumption, says Cottrell.
"Hunters need to know that EHD cannot be contracted by humans," assures Cottrell. "It's also extremely rare, and highly unlikely, for this virus to cause clinical signs in cattle, sheep or goats." He also stresses that while some EHD symptoms are similar to those of chronic wasting disease, there's no relationship between EHD and CWD.
EHD can be amplified by anything that serves to congregate deer, such as supplemental feeding, he adds. "Such activities should be discontinued immediately."
While there's no evidence that humans can acquire the disease by field-dressing a deer, hunters are encouraged to wear rubber or latex gloves when handling or field-dressing an animal.
Tissue samples must be extracted within 24 hours of death for testing. That's why Cottrell urges reporting of losses to game offices as soon as possible.
The good news is that the EHD outbreak should end with the onset of colder weather, suggests Cottrell.
Source: http://americanagriculturist.com/index.aspx?ascxid=fpStory&fpsid=29890&fpstid=2
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
(BAD) DISCOVERY NEWS: EHD Found in Ohio Cattle
Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) officials today confirmed the discovery of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) -- a common white-tailed deer virus -- in two Pike County cattle farms. This marks the state’s first-ever case of the virus in cattle, but officials stress that it poses no threat to human health or to the safety of meat consumption.
The ODA Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Reynoldsburg confirmed EHD in cattle populations in southern Ohio. The virus, which has been found in several surrounding states, occurs annually in deer herds across North America but is less common in cattle. In the Pike County cattle, officials identified a wild strain of the EHD virus, which will run its course much like the common flu. In deer, EHD is typically fatal.
Both cattle and deer contract EHD from gnats or biting flies. The virus cannot be spread from animal to animal or from animal to humans. Insects, however, can contract the virus from infected deer or cattle and pass it on to surrounding populations. This summer’s drought has forced animals and insects to common watering spots, increasing the spread of EHD. Typically, the onset of cold weather suppresses the disease as frosts drives insects into winter inactivity. Although test results have not confirmed the Southern Ohio deer population has been infected with EHD, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources will continue to monitor and test deer in this area for the virus.
According to the University of Georgia's annual Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, EHD is the most common ailment affecting deer in the Eastern United States. Outbreaks of the disease have occurred in Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia this year. The most recent Ohio outbreaks occurred in 2003 in Clermont and Brown counties. The disease is common in portions of the northern Great Plains and the southeastern United States. It was first identified in 1955 in New Jersey.
Mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope are also susceptible to the disease.
Source: http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=157692
The ODA Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Reynoldsburg confirmed EHD in cattle populations in southern Ohio. The virus, which has been found in several surrounding states, occurs annually in deer herds across North America but is less common in cattle. In the Pike County cattle, officials identified a wild strain of the EHD virus, which will run its course much like the common flu. In deer, EHD is typically fatal.
Both cattle and deer contract EHD from gnats or biting flies. The virus cannot be spread from animal to animal or from animal to humans. Insects, however, can contract the virus from infected deer or cattle and pass it on to surrounding populations. This summer’s drought has forced animals and insects to common watering spots, increasing the spread of EHD. Typically, the onset of cold weather suppresses the disease as frosts drives insects into winter inactivity. Although test results have not confirmed the Southern Ohio deer population has been infected with EHD, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources will continue to monitor and test deer in this area for the virus.
According to the University of Georgia's annual Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, EHD is the most common ailment affecting deer in the Eastern United States. Outbreaks of the disease have occurred in Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia this year. The most recent Ohio outbreaks occurred in 2003 in Clermont and Brown counties. The disease is common in portions of the northern Great Plains and the southeastern United States. It was first identified in 1955 in New Jersey.
Mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope are also susceptible to the disease.
Source: http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=157692
Friday, August 31, 2007
MAINE NEWS: Combatting Deer Overpopulation in Maine Wildlife Park
Oh, deer!
The four whitetail bucks at the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray may get vasectomies to keep the population in check, and not everyone is happy about it.
Friends of Maine Wildlife Park, a group of park volunteers, say sterilizing the bucks would permanently prevent the park's does from having fawns, meaning the public would not be able to watch does care for their young.
But Lisa Kane, who supervises the wildlife park for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said allowing overcrowding in the deer pen does not teach the public about responsible game management.
The park, which treats injured wildlife for eventual release, currently has 20 deer in a three-acre enclosure at the park. Animals that can't be released are kept to educate the public about wildlife.
"The mission of the park is to house unreleasable wildlife for the public to learn from and enjoy," Kane said. "The mission of the park is not to breed animals in captivity, particularly whitetail deer."
Joe Jones, president of the park friends group, agrees that 20 deer is excessive, but he worries about the impact of the change on the public.
"I am upset because people love to see the babies. That is the biggest reason they come to the park, to see the babies," Jones said. "If they had done the proper thing, reduced the herd early last spring, they wouldn't have any problems."
Kane said there will always be fawns at the park, because orphaned fawns end up there virtually every spring.
In the past, the park has tranquilized and moved year-old deer to the wild, but park officials say this is not the most humane approach to thinning the herd. Park Superintendent Curtis Johnson said the method is expensive, time-consuming and does not guarantee the survival of the released deer.
"Darting animals is not a precise science. It never produces the same result," Johnson said. "I think it is better to go with a one- time technique."
A vasectomy does not affect a buck's ability to go through typical mating behavior, a fall ritual that the public does not view because the park is closed.
Vasectomies are a common practice for controlling deer numbers at many zoos, said wildlife department veterinarian Russell Danner.
"It's one possibility. The Milwaukee County Zoo had used vasectomies for 10 years, and it worked quite successfully," Danner said.
If newborn fawns are needed to fill out the herd in the future, the sterilizations would not be a problem because a doe can produce two fawns, and a doe several months old is capable of breeding, he said.
The department is also considering a vaccine for does that would prevent their eggs from fertilizing. Danner said that vaccination would be needed once a year.
Although Kane said the cost of vasectomies was not prohibitive, Johnson and Danner both said it could be.
"There is the cost of the anesthesia, and if a surgeon is going to charge or volunteer their time," Danner said. "I want to find the person most skilled who is willing to do the job. That may or may not be me. My job is as a fish pathologist. Maybe there is someone more qualified."
Danner said the cost could be as low as $200 per animal, but Johnson said vasectomies for the four bucks could cost a few thousand dollars, depending on the fee.
The park's annual budget is about $500,000, and its revenue comes from gate fees and interest accrued from a dedicated fund, Johnson said.
Simply feeding the 20 whitetail deer in the park now costs several thousand dollars a year, because of the cost of grain that is used to supplement the browse that has been depleted by the herd, he said.
The decision on vasectomies has to be made by fall, Kane said.
Danner doesn't want to rush it.
"That wildlife park has been around for 50 years," he said.
source: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=130944&ac=PHnws
The four whitetail bucks at the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray may get vasectomies to keep the population in check, and not everyone is happy about it.
Friends of Maine Wildlife Park, a group of park volunteers, say sterilizing the bucks would permanently prevent the park's does from having fawns, meaning the public would not be able to watch does care for their young.
But Lisa Kane, who supervises the wildlife park for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said allowing overcrowding in the deer pen does not teach the public about responsible game management.
The park, which treats injured wildlife for eventual release, currently has 20 deer in a three-acre enclosure at the park. Animals that can't be released are kept to educate the public about wildlife.
"The mission of the park is to house unreleasable wildlife for the public to learn from and enjoy," Kane said. "The mission of the park is not to breed animals in captivity, particularly whitetail deer."
Joe Jones, president of the park friends group, agrees that 20 deer is excessive, but he worries about the impact of the change on the public.
"I am upset because people love to see the babies. That is the biggest reason they come to the park, to see the babies," Jones said. "If they had done the proper thing, reduced the herd early last spring, they wouldn't have any problems."
Kane said there will always be fawns at the park, because orphaned fawns end up there virtually every spring.
In the past, the park has tranquilized and moved year-old deer to the wild, but park officials say this is not the most humane approach to thinning the herd. Park Superintendent Curtis Johnson said the method is expensive, time-consuming and does not guarantee the survival of the released deer.
"Darting animals is not a precise science. It never produces the same result," Johnson said. "I think it is better to go with a one- time technique."
A vasectomy does not affect a buck's ability to go through typical mating behavior, a fall ritual that the public does not view because the park is closed.
Vasectomies are a common practice for controlling deer numbers at many zoos, said wildlife department veterinarian Russell Danner.
"It's one possibility. The Milwaukee County Zoo had used vasectomies for 10 years, and it worked quite successfully," Danner said.
If newborn fawns are needed to fill out the herd in the future, the sterilizations would not be a problem because a doe can produce two fawns, and a doe several months old is capable of breeding, he said.
The department is also considering a vaccine for does that would prevent their eggs from fertilizing. Danner said that vaccination would be needed once a year.
Although Kane said the cost of vasectomies was not prohibitive, Johnson and Danner both said it could be.
"There is the cost of the anesthesia, and if a surgeon is going to charge or volunteer their time," Danner said. "I want to find the person most skilled who is willing to do the job. That may or may not be me. My job is as a fish pathologist. Maybe there is someone more qualified."
Danner said the cost could be as low as $200 per animal, but Johnson said vasectomies for the four bucks could cost a few thousand dollars, depending on the fee.
The park's annual budget is about $500,000, and its revenue comes from gate fees and interest accrued from a dedicated fund, Johnson said.
Simply feeding the 20 whitetail deer in the park now costs several thousand dollars a year, because of the cost of grain that is used to supplement the browse that has been depleted by the herd, he said.
The decision on vasectomies has to be made by fall, Kane said.
Danner doesn't want to rush it.
"That wildlife park has been around for 50 years," he said.
source: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=130944&ac=PHnws
Thursday, August 30, 2007
EASTERN US NEWS: Epizoontic Hemorrahagic Disease Outbreaks In Six States
Wildlife officials in at least six states, including Kentucky, report people are finding considerable numbers of dead deer. Apparently the deaths are being caused by an outbreak of a deadly virus.
The virus, called EHD (epizootic hemorrhagic disease), seems to occur every few years in white-tailed deer, and is not infectious to humans. However, it may mean hunters in some areas will see fewer deer during the upcoming hunting seasons.
People in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee have been finding dead deer or animals in a weakened and emaciated state near water.
Source: http://www.cknj.com/articles/2007/08/29/sports/09sports.txt
INDIANA - A viral disease is taking a deadly aim at Perry County’s population of white-tailed deer just weeks before the start of the fall-hunting season.
Epizootic hemorrhagic disease, often known as EHD, is normally not found in domestic animals and isn’t capable of being transmitted to humans. However, the disease often kills the white-tailed deer that it infects and could cause significant deer mortality in areas of southern Indiana.
“It’s likely that a good number of deer have been and will be lost,” said DNR deer management biologist Jim Mitchell.
Reports of dead deer have already been reported in several southern Indiana counties, including Perry and Spencer. State wildlife biologist Jeff Thompson, who is based at the Sugar Ridge Fish and Wildlife Area near Winslow and whose assigned area includes Perry County, said a deer from Pike County has tested positive for EHD. He is awaiting test results from another deer found south of Birdseye.
Thompson said the disease is likely present in other counties.
EHD is transmitted by small, biting flying insects called midges and is affecting deer earlier than in past years, including an outbreak in 2006 concentrated in west-central Indiana. While deer biologists do not expect the outbreak will cause significant deer mortality in areas where the disease hit last fall, due to residual immunity, the early start to this year’s outbreak may lead to significant numbers of deaths in southern Indiana.
Hot, dry conditions have boosted the midge population, making transmission of EHD more likely. “Last year was hot, but we also had a lot of rain,” Thompson said Wednesday. “This year we’ve had the heat but not much rain.”
EHD-infected animals have also been reported in Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio. The disease is common in Southern states but occurs less frequently in the Midwest.
EHD causes severe flu-like symptoms in the deer, including a high fever and infected deer often seek water in streams or ponds in an effort to cool off. Dead deer are sometimes found in or near water.
Sick deer may lose their appetite and become uncoordinated. As they become weaker and dehydrated, their mouth and eye tissues sometimes show a rosy or bluish color.
Thompson said infected deer often die within a week, though some animals will recover.
Source: http://www.perrycountynews.com/articles/2007/08/30/headlines/h3.txt
PENNSYLVANIA - HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Walter Cottrell, Pennsylvania Game Commission wildlife veterinarian, today announced that previously pending test results have confirmed that epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) is causing mortality in deer in an expanded area of southwestern Pennsylvania.
Additionally, Dr. Cottrell noted that two samples from dead deer in Beaver County have been submitted to the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia for testing, and residents with information about other dead deer found in this county and other counties surrounding the known positive cases are urged to contact the Southwest Region Office at 724- 238-9523.
Several hundred deer have been found dead in Allegheny, Beaver, Greene and Washington counties, and the deaths are consistent with EHD.
So far, EHD has been confirmed in Richhill, Gray, Morris, Aleppo, Jackson, Center, Waynesburg, Franklin, Wayne, Washington, Morgan, Whiteley, Greene and Jefferson townships in Greene County; and West Finley, East Finley, South Franklin, Morris Twps, Amwell, West Bethlehem, and Marianna in Washington County.
"While we want to continue to receive reports about dead deer in these townships, we also are very interested in hearing from those who find dead deer in other townships," Cottrell said. "As tissue samples must be extracted within 24 hours of death to be suitable for conducting tests, it is important that we hear from residents as soon as possible.
Source: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,168408.shtml
The virus, called EHD (epizootic hemorrhagic disease), seems to occur every few years in white-tailed deer, and is not infectious to humans. However, it may mean hunters in some areas will see fewer deer during the upcoming hunting seasons.
People in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee have been finding dead deer or animals in a weakened and emaciated state near water.
Source: http://www.cknj.com/articles/2007/08/29/sports/09sports.txt
INDIANA - A viral disease is taking a deadly aim at Perry County’s population of white-tailed deer just weeks before the start of the fall-hunting season.
Epizootic hemorrhagic disease, often known as EHD, is normally not found in domestic animals and isn’t capable of being transmitted to humans. However, the disease often kills the white-tailed deer that it infects and could cause significant deer mortality in areas of southern Indiana.
“It’s likely that a good number of deer have been and will be lost,” said DNR deer management biologist Jim Mitchell.
Reports of dead deer have already been reported in several southern Indiana counties, including Perry and Spencer. State wildlife biologist Jeff Thompson, who is based at the Sugar Ridge Fish and Wildlife Area near Winslow and whose assigned area includes Perry County, said a deer from Pike County has tested positive for EHD. He is awaiting test results from another deer found south of Birdseye.
Thompson said the disease is likely present in other counties.
EHD is transmitted by small, biting flying insects called midges and is affecting deer earlier than in past years, including an outbreak in 2006 concentrated in west-central Indiana. While deer biologists do not expect the outbreak will cause significant deer mortality in areas where the disease hit last fall, due to residual immunity, the early start to this year’s outbreak may lead to significant numbers of deaths in southern Indiana.
Hot, dry conditions have boosted the midge population, making transmission of EHD more likely. “Last year was hot, but we also had a lot of rain,” Thompson said Wednesday. “This year we’ve had the heat but not much rain.”
EHD-infected animals have also been reported in Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio. The disease is common in Southern states but occurs less frequently in the Midwest.
EHD causes severe flu-like symptoms in the deer, including a high fever and infected deer often seek water in streams or ponds in an effort to cool off. Dead deer are sometimes found in or near water.
Sick deer may lose their appetite and become uncoordinated. As they become weaker and dehydrated, their mouth and eye tissues sometimes show a rosy or bluish color.
Thompson said infected deer often die within a week, though some animals will recover.
Source: http://www.perrycountynews.com/articles/2007/08/30/headlines/h3.txt
PENNSYLVANIA - HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Walter Cottrell, Pennsylvania Game Commission wildlife veterinarian, today announced that previously pending test results have confirmed that epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) is causing mortality in deer in an expanded area of southwestern Pennsylvania.
Additionally, Dr. Cottrell noted that two samples from dead deer in Beaver County have been submitted to the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia for testing, and residents with information about other dead deer found in this county and other counties surrounding the known positive cases are urged to contact the Southwest Region Office at 724- 238-9523.
Several hundred deer have been found dead in Allegheny, Beaver, Greene and Washington counties, and the deaths are consistent with EHD.
So far, EHD has been confirmed in Richhill, Gray, Morris, Aleppo, Jackson, Center, Waynesburg, Franklin, Wayne, Washington, Morgan, Whiteley, Greene and Jefferson townships in Greene County; and West Finley, East Finley, South Franklin, Morris Twps, Amwell, West Bethlehem, and Marianna in Washington County.
"While we want to continue to receive reports about dead deer in these townships, we also are very interested in hearing from those who find dead deer in other townships," Cottrell said. "As tissue samples must be extracted within 24 hours of death to be suitable for conducting tests, it is important that we hear from residents as soon as possible.
Source: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,168408.shtml
Monday, July 30, 2007
KANSAS NEWS: Small Park + No Predators = Same Old Problem
On an early summer night, dusk wanes and the sun slips red beneath the horizon of Shawnee Mission Park. A car rolls slowly along Ogg Road, away from the lake, and into the park stables.
The driver parks. He and his family step from their car and walk north to the edge of a pasture. There, as if on safari, they see them grazing:
Ten, 30, at least 50 white-tailed deer.
Like other gawkers, they had driven around the park’s circular road and seen small groups of deer here and there: five by the baseball fields; three nibbling at the edge of trees; four more walking elegantly along a ridge as silhouettes against the sky.
But here, dozens of does and fawns and bucks arch their brown necks toward the grass. The small boy runs excited down a slope toward the field. Alarmed, the deer jerk their heads up, pause, stare and then, flowing like a river, rush leaping and hopping into the woods with their white tails flashing like lanterns on waves.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” the awestruck mother says. The stream of deer flees, trailed by their long shadows. “It’s beautiful.”
I t’s morning. Charles Wasson, fit and retired from the Navy, stands at the southern edge of the park, his feet sunk into the dark green lawn of his suburban home.
“We have an infestation!” he says. “That’s how I think about it. It’s an infestation.”
The hoofprints of deer dent his flowerbeds. He looks at his hostas, or what’s left of them. They’re gone, nibbled down to pale green stalks.
“I love them, too,” he says of the deer. From the window of his kitchen, he and his wife watch families of deer — sometimes with majestic bucks possessing eight, 10 and even 12 points on their antlers — loping from the woods along their backyard.
But there’s barely a neighbor in the maze of cul-de-sacs who hasn’t had to swerve around deer in the road. Occasionally, in the wee hours of the morning, people rise to retrieve their newspapers to confront deer just feet from their front doors: huge, curled up, eyes shut.
“They sleep on my front lawn,” Wasson says. “These are not small deer.”
G rant Evans, senior park manager for Shawnee Mission Park, hops in the cab of his truck and cruises along the park road.
He is in a quandary. The collision, he knows, is coming and has been for years — the collision between nature and suburbanization, between booming populations of deer in the park with no natural predators (“Except a Ford,” Evans says) and burgeoning populations of suburbanites.
He points through his windshield at the wall of trees along the border of the park.
“See that?” he says. “See the browse line?”
There it is: a long band — one giant dark stripe extending from the ground to six feet up in the branches — running the length of the trees. From the ground to the top of the line, the trees have been nibbled raw.
“You shouldn’t be able to see back through the trees like that,” Evans says.
It’s a sure sign of too many deer, as if he hasn’t already seen enough signs: White-tailed deer everywhere, like Canada geese, stand fearless in the middle of the road. Cars approach, and they barely flinch. Deer and car crashes are growing ever more frequent. Recently Evans discovered illegal tree stands put up by bow hunters in the depths of the park.
As a conservationist, Evans knows it’s not healthy. Not for the trees. Not for the deer who, should the herd continue to grow, risk starving in the winter. If a wasting disease or virus infiltrated a herd this size, he says, the resultant die-off of deer would be horrendous and ugly. (story continues)
Source:
http://www.kansascity.com/starmagazine/story/202545.html
The driver parks. He and his family step from their car and walk north to the edge of a pasture. There, as if on safari, they see them grazing:
Ten, 30, at least 50 white-tailed deer.
Like other gawkers, they had driven around the park’s circular road and seen small groups of deer here and there: five by the baseball fields; three nibbling at the edge of trees; four more walking elegantly along a ridge as silhouettes against the sky.
But here, dozens of does and fawns and bucks arch their brown necks toward the grass. The small boy runs excited down a slope toward the field. Alarmed, the deer jerk their heads up, pause, stare and then, flowing like a river, rush leaping and hopping into the woods with their white tails flashing like lanterns on waves.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” the awestruck mother says. The stream of deer flees, trailed by their long shadows. “It’s beautiful.”
I t’s morning. Charles Wasson, fit and retired from the Navy, stands at the southern edge of the park, his feet sunk into the dark green lawn of his suburban home.
“We have an infestation!” he says. “That’s how I think about it. It’s an infestation.”
The hoofprints of deer dent his flowerbeds. He looks at his hostas, or what’s left of them. They’re gone, nibbled down to pale green stalks.
“I love them, too,” he says of the deer. From the window of his kitchen, he and his wife watch families of deer — sometimes with majestic bucks possessing eight, 10 and even 12 points on their antlers — loping from the woods along their backyard.
But there’s barely a neighbor in the maze of cul-de-sacs who hasn’t had to swerve around deer in the road. Occasionally, in the wee hours of the morning, people rise to retrieve their newspapers to confront deer just feet from their front doors: huge, curled up, eyes shut.
“They sleep on my front lawn,” Wasson says. “These are not small deer.”
G rant Evans, senior park manager for Shawnee Mission Park, hops in the cab of his truck and cruises along the park road.
He is in a quandary. The collision, he knows, is coming and has been for years — the collision between nature and suburbanization, between booming populations of deer in the park with no natural predators (“Except a Ford,” Evans says) and burgeoning populations of suburbanites.
He points through his windshield at the wall of trees along the border of the park.
“See that?” he says. “See the browse line?”
There it is: a long band — one giant dark stripe extending from the ground to six feet up in the branches — running the length of the trees. From the ground to the top of the line, the trees have been nibbled raw.
“You shouldn’t be able to see back through the trees like that,” Evans says.
It’s a sure sign of too many deer, as if he hasn’t already seen enough signs: White-tailed deer everywhere, like Canada geese, stand fearless in the middle of the road. Cars approach, and they barely flinch. Deer and car crashes are growing ever more frequent. Recently Evans discovered illegal tree stands put up by bow hunters in the depths of the park.
As a conservationist, Evans knows it’s not healthy. Not for the trees. Not for the deer who, should the herd continue to grow, risk starving in the winter. If a wasting disease or virus infiltrated a herd this size, he says, the resultant die-off of deer would be horrendous and ugly. (story continues)
Source:
http://www.kansascity.com/starmagazine/story/202545.html
Thursday, July 26, 2007
CALIFORNIA NEWS: Efforts to Save Point Reyes Invasive Deer Renewed
Just as officials planned to hire hunters to thin out non-native deer at Point Reyes National Seashore, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey came to the deer's defense this week.
Woolsey said she wants officials to kill fallow and axis deer, and sent a letter to park Superintendent Don Neubacher asking that the plan be halted.
Woolsey said a committee should be formed to study alternatives.
The National Park Service said in August 2006 it preferred lethal and contraception methods after reviewing a final environmental impact statement that listed five alternatives to protect native black-tailed deer and tule elk populations threatened by foreign deer in the national seashore.
"Although the park service has gone through a lengthy process to arrive at this point, I believe there is more that could be done before lethal removal is implemented," Woolsey wrote. "There is no urgency to move forward."
Contracts for culling the non-native deer - which biologists said have run roughshod over the park's ecosystem - have been signed and could be launched within weeks, park officials said.
The axis and fallow deer are transplants from Southern Asia and Europe respectively, that were brought to the Point Reyes National Seashore in the 1940's, according to the Marin Independent Journal.
The deer will be eliminated by 2021 under the plan.
Source: http://www.nbc11.com/news/13755633/detail.html
Woolsey said she wants officials to kill fallow and axis deer, and sent a letter to park Superintendent Don Neubacher asking that the plan be halted.
Woolsey said a committee should be formed to study alternatives.
The National Park Service said in August 2006 it preferred lethal and contraception methods after reviewing a final environmental impact statement that listed five alternatives to protect native black-tailed deer and tule elk populations threatened by foreign deer in the national seashore.
"Although the park service has gone through a lengthy process to arrive at this point, I believe there is more that could be done before lethal removal is implemented," Woolsey wrote. "There is no urgency to move forward."
Contracts for culling the non-native deer - which biologists said have run roughshod over the park's ecosystem - have been signed and could be launched within weeks, park officials said.
The axis and fallow deer are transplants from Southern Asia and Europe respectively, that were brought to the Point Reyes National Seashore in the 1940's, according to the Marin Independent Journal.
The deer will be eliminated by 2021 under the plan.
Source: http://www.nbc11.com/news/13755633/detail.html
MICHIGAN NEWS: Clinton Township to Ban Bow Hunting
Clinton Township officials Monday took steps to ban hunting in the 28-square-mile community in response to a large number of people bow hunting deer along the Clinton River.
The township Board of Trustees agreed to ask the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to make a recommendation to close the area to any form of hunting because it poses a safety risk in Michigan's most populated township.
"Every fall during bow hunting season we have people going to hunt in our wetlands and wooded areas along the Clinton River," police Chief Fred Posavetz said. "Invariably, people with homes in that area are concerned about their safety."
Clinton Township already has a law banning firearm hunting, but bow hunting is still legal east of Garfield and north of Clinton River Road. With Clinton Township nearly fully developed with about 98,000 residents, officials want to close that area as well.
Under Monday's action, Clinton Township will ask the DNR to conduct an investigation and determine whether the state agrees there should be a hunting ban, said Kristi Glavich, a township attorney.
"We feel the best way to cleanly prohibit hunting is to have the DNR declare Clinton Township is off limits," Glavich said.
If the DNR agrees, a public hearing will be held in Clinton Township in the coming months.
Township officials said a "healthy deer population" continues to sustain and reproduce along the river. Banning hunting likely will not increase the population, they added. [Rooney notes: actually, it will].
"I don't think it's appropriate to allow hunting in such a populated area," said Clerk Dennis Tomlinson, a longtime bow hunter. "It should be farther out away from the population."
If the measure is approved, the ban would include firearms, bow and arrow, slingshot and trapping.
source: http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/072407/loc_20070724011.shtml
The township Board of Trustees agreed to ask the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to make a recommendation to close the area to any form of hunting because it poses a safety risk in Michigan's most populated township.
"Every fall during bow hunting season we have people going to hunt in our wetlands and wooded areas along the Clinton River," police Chief Fred Posavetz said. "Invariably, people with homes in that area are concerned about their safety."
Clinton Township already has a law banning firearm hunting, but bow hunting is still legal east of Garfield and north of Clinton River Road. With Clinton Township nearly fully developed with about 98,000 residents, officials want to close that area as well.
Under Monday's action, Clinton Township will ask the DNR to conduct an investigation and determine whether the state agrees there should be a hunting ban, said Kristi Glavich, a township attorney.
"We feel the best way to cleanly prohibit hunting is to have the DNR declare Clinton Township is off limits," Glavich said.
If the DNR agrees, a public hearing will be held in Clinton Township in the coming months.
Township officials said a "healthy deer population" continues to sustain and reproduce along the river. Banning hunting likely will not increase the population, they added. [Rooney notes: actually, it will].
"I don't think it's appropriate to allow hunting in such a populated area," said Clerk Dennis Tomlinson, a longtime bow hunter. "It should be farther out away from the population."
If the measure is approved, the ban would include firearms, bow and arrow, slingshot and trapping.
source: http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/072407/loc_20070724011.shtml
MARYLAND NEWS: Increase in Lyme Disease
Kelly Strzelecki has a new reason to avoid ticks -- not that she needed one. "I hate them -- who doesn't?" she asked, prefacing her latest experience with the tiny bloodsuckers.
Her son, Graham, 7, developed a rash last month while the Catonsville family was attending a YMCA camp in tick-infested woods. A week later, the boy fell ill. "He had these unexplained fevers, and he was lethargic and kind of pale," recalled Strzelecki.
Medical tests showed Graham had contracted Lyme disease, a tick-borne infection that's notoriously difficult to spot and well-entrenched in the forests of Maryland and neighboring states.
Confirmed Lyme disease cases have grown steadily over the past decade in the United States. In Maryland, the number of reported cases more than doubled between 2001 and 2006 from 608 cases to 1,248, according to the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
As of July 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had received 675 unconfirmed reports in Maryland this year, a 26 percent increase over the same period last year.
Public health officials said the number of Lyme disease infections is probably on the rise, but cautioned that growing public awareness of the disease might also be responsible for more diagnoses.
Epidemiologists first recorded Lyme disease as a discrete illness in the United States in the mid-1970s, after a number of children in Lyme, Conn., developed joint pain and circular red rashes. Scientists identified Borrelia burgdorferi, the spiral-shaped bacteria that cause the disease, in 1983.
The bacteria are carried by tiny, black-legged ticks that are no larger than a sesame seed. Also known as deer ticks, they feed on deer, mice and other mammals, then pass the Lyme-causing bacteria to humans and domesticated animals. The ticks are particularly common in wooded areas with dense brush, tall grass and heavy leaf litter.
Most people contract the infection in May, June and July, but symptoms often appear in late summer and early fall.
Dr. Charles A. Haile, chief of infectious disease at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, said family doctors have become more comfortable diagnosing and treating Lyme disease in recent years.
In fact, he might not notice a rise in infections, he said, because general practitioners now refer fewer patients to specialists like him. "The expertise in diagnosing Lyme has grown a lot in Maryland over the past 10 years," he said.
The actual number of people contracting the disease may be on the rise as well. One possible reason, experts say, is the increasingly frequent collision between deer and mouse populations and suburban sprawl.
The five Maryland jurisdictions with the most reported Lyme cases are home to large suburban populations: Carroll, Anne Arundel, Frederick, Howard and Harford counties. Cecil County, which has one of the highest per capita rates of infection, is also one of the fastest-growing regions in Maryland.
"We continue to create the environment for the transmission of this disease," said John Krick, director of epidemiology and disease control programs at DHMH. "We build houses on newly cleared land, putting ourselves closer to the forest and wild animals."
While the deer population has fluctuated in recent years, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources estimates that there are about 240,000 white-tailed deer in Maryland, the same number as a decade ago. [Rooney: yes, but deer populations are increasing in the most populated areas and people are increasing in high deer density areas. The state level is the wrong level of analysis here].
Douglas Hotton, leader of DNR's deer management program, said deer numbers may have little to do with the spread of Lyme disease. In fact, he suggested that the very name "deer tick" is misleading. "It ought to really be called the 'mouse tick,'" he said, since the white-footed mouse is the main host for the Lyme-causing bacteria.
Hotton said only a few deer are required to sustain a large number of ticks, and that fluctuations in the population appear to have little effect on the incidence of Lyme disease. Water, which ticks require to thrive, may play a larger role in sustaining a tick population than the sheer number of deer and mice.
Efforts to reduce tick populations in neighborhoods with insecticides are effective, but difficult to implement statewide, Hotton said.
One device scientists have tried applies tick killer to a deer's neck when it sticks its head into a man-made feeder. Another method involves cardboard tubes stuffed with insecticide-soaked cotton balls. Mice use the cotton as nesting material and in the process coat their fur with the tick killer.
Removing brush and leaf litter around homes and edging yards and sports fields with buffer zones of gravel or wood chips can also reduce tick populations, according to the CDC.
Source (and full story):
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-to.hs.lyme26jul26,0,1247.story
Her son, Graham, 7, developed a rash last month while the Catonsville family was attending a YMCA camp in tick-infested woods. A week later, the boy fell ill. "He had these unexplained fevers, and he was lethargic and kind of pale," recalled Strzelecki.
Medical tests showed Graham had contracted Lyme disease, a tick-borne infection that's notoriously difficult to spot and well-entrenched in the forests of Maryland and neighboring states.
Confirmed Lyme disease cases have grown steadily over the past decade in the United States. In Maryland, the number of reported cases more than doubled between 2001 and 2006 from 608 cases to 1,248, according to the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
As of July 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had received 675 unconfirmed reports in Maryland this year, a 26 percent increase over the same period last year.
Public health officials said the number of Lyme disease infections is probably on the rise, but cautioned that growing public awareness of the disease might also be responsible for more diagnoses.
Epidemiologists first recorded Lyme disease as a discrete illness in the United States in the mid-1970s, after a number of children in Lyme, Conn., developed joint pain and circular red rashes. Scientists identified Borrelia burgdorferi, the spiral-shaped bacteria that cause the disease, in 1983.
The bacteria are carried by tiny, black-legged ticks that are no larger than a sesame seed. Also known as deer ticks, they feed on deer, mice and other mammals, then pass the Lyme-causing bacteria to humans and domesticated animals. The ticks are particularly common in wooded areas with dense brush, tall grass and heavy leaf litter.
Most people contract the infection in May, June and July, but symptoms often appear in late summer and early fall.
Dr. Charles A. Haile, chief of infectious disease at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, said family doctors have become more comfortable diagnosing and treating Lyme disease in recent years.
In fact, he might not notice a rise in infections, he said, because general practitioners now refer fewer patients to specialists like him. "The expertise in diagnosing Lyme has grown a lot in Maryland over the past 10 years," he said.
The actual number of people contracting the disease may be on the rise as well. One possible reason, experts say, is the increasingly frequent collision between deer and mouse populations and suburban sprawl.
The five Maryland jurisdictions with the most reported Lyme cases are home to large suburban populations: Carroll, Anne Arundel, Frederick, Howard and Harford counties. Cecil County, which has one of the highest per capita rates of infection, is also one of the fastest-growing regions in Maryland.
"We continue to create the environment for the transmission of this disease," said John Krick, director of epidemiology and disease control programs at DHMH. "We build houses on newly cleared land, putting ourselves closer to the forest and wild animals."
While the deer population has fluctuated in recent years, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources estimates that there are about 240,000 white-tailed deer in Maryland, the same number as a decade ago. [Rooney: yes, but deer populations are increasing in the most populated areas and people are increasing in high deer density areas. The state level is the wrong level of analysis here].
Douglas Hotton, leader of DNR's deer management program, said deer numbers may have little to do with the spread of Lyme disease. In fact, he suggested that the very name "deer tick" is misleading. "It ought to really be called the 'mouse tick,'" he said, since the white-footed mouse is the main host for the Lyme-causing bacteria.
Hotton said only a few deer are required to sustain a large number of ticks, and that fluctuations in the population appear to have little effect on the incidence of Lyme disease. Water, which ticks require to thrive, may play a larger role in sustaining a tick population than the sheer number of deer and mice.
Efforts to reduce tick populations in neighborhoods with insecticides are effective, but difficult to implement statewide, Hotton said.
One device scientists have tried applies tick killer to a deer's neck when it sticks its head into a man-made feeder. Another method involves cardboard tubes stuffed with insecticide-soaked cotton balls. Mice use the cotton as nesting material and in the process coat their fur with the tick killer.
Removing brush and leaf litter around homes and edging yards and sports fields with buffer zones of gravel or wood chips can also reduce tick populations, according to the CDC.
Source (and full story):
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-to.hs.lyme26jul26,0,1247.story
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
NEW JERSEY NEWS: Humane Society Pushes Non-Lethal Deer Control
SOLEBURY — Few sights can top the serene majesty of a white-tailed deer in a green field or a shaded wood.
But that same deer can inflict damage and death on the nation's highways and back roads.
The problem, experts agree, is the conflict that results when the habitats of people and nature overlap. Where the experts disagree is how best to handle the conflict.
Some experts advocate allowing hunters to thin the herd, but this summer, the problem became too severe in a local community to wait for hunting season.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services has said a more immediate response was needed in Solebury Township to cut the deer-vehicle collision rate of two every three days and also to curtail the damage inflicted on local crops.
Wildlife Services sent in a crew, including a sharpshooter with night-vision goggles and thermal imaging equipment, to cull the herd. The crew killed 116 deer, including 12 fawns, over a four-night period. The crew will return sometime in August to continue the shoot.
The Humane Society of the United States says there are other, better methods to control the conflict that are also more humane. Tonight (July 26) at New Hope-Solebury High School at 6:30 p.m., the society will present a discussion of nonlethal methods. Donald Elroy, the society's director of wildlife advocacy in Washington D.C., will be the speaker.
People who attend the meeting will have the opportunity to sign a petition against the lethal methods of deer control.
The petition is intended not just for Solebury residents, but for anyone who "feels this could become an issue in their area," said Kathy Mays Acker, a former Solebury resident who now resides in Plumsteadville.
She added, "So we can show our representatives that we do not care to ever have them go and think along these lines when there are so many other ways to address this issue."
The shoot in Solebury may cause an undesirable increase in the number of deer, according to the Humane Society.
It could result in "less challenging situations and more habitat for the remaining deer," Mr. Elroy said.
He added, "When this occurs, the deer rebound by having more sets of twins, thereby increasing population numbers."
The society says other effective methods would address the collisions and the loss of income to farmers as well as Lyme disease.
"Crop loss and damage could easily be compensated by the community or through USDA," Mr. Elroy told Wildlife Services and Solebury in a letter e-mailed June 20. "Compensation for crop loss is a regular program under the auspices of the USDA."
To prevent the damage in the first place, Mr. Elroy said nurseries in the area have had "very impressive results" when they erected deer fencing.
The frequency of collisions can be lowered through a number of means, according to the society. Among the options are lower speed limits, Strieter-Lite reflectors, motion sensor flashing signals, wildlife crossings and green bridges.
The Strieter-Lite Wild Animal Highway Warning Reflector System was patented in 1994. It is designed to work between dusk and dawn when deer are most active. The system reflects vehicle headlights and sends out a reflected beam at deer. It acts to deter deer from crossing the road while traffic is approaching.
Green bridges are grassy, earth-like pathways or bridges constructed over roads. They funnel deer and other large wildlife away from the path of traffic.
With the proximity of deer to the human population comes a concern for ticks, and with certain ticks comes disease. Tick bites can result in at least 10 different diseases in humans, including Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, according to the American Lyme Disease Foundation.
The deer tick, or black-legged tick, is responsible for transmitting Lyme disease in the eastern part of the United States. It needs to feed on blood as it moves through the three stages of its life cycle, larva, nymph and adult.
In the adult stage, the tick waits on leaves or grass for a passing host, preferably a deer, and latches on as the deer passes by.
The USDA has used a device called a four-poster to deal with ticks in the deer population. It is a metal device where deer feed. As they insert their heads and necks into the device, they are brushed with a tick-killing chemical.
The Humane Society says the USDA should also consider ways to control ticks at other stages in the life cycle.
"If the ticks are controlled at an earlier developmental stage, it would have an overall larger effect on tick population and control of Lyme disease," Mr. Elroy said. "The black-legged tick is not specific to deer and transfers through a variety of hosts during different life stages."
To control the deer population, the society also points to methods of contraception as well as surgical sterilization.
"In short, there are a variety of non-lethal approaches that should have been implemented in the initial stage of any strategy or plan concerning human-deer conflict situations," Mr. Elroy said.
source: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18621086&BRD=1091&PAG=461&dept_id=425410&rfi=6
But that same deer can inflict damage and death on the nation's highways and back roads.
The problem, experts agree, is the conflict that results when the habitats of people and nature overlap. Where the experts disagree is how best to handle the conflict.
Some experts advocate allowing hunters to thin the herd, but this summer, the problem became too severe in a local community to wait for hunting season.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services has said a more immediate response was needed in Solebury Township to cut the deer-vehicle collision rate of two every three days and also to curtail the damage inflicted on local crops.
Wildlife Services sent in a crew, including a sharpshooter with night-vision goggles and thermal imaging equipment, to cull the herd. The crew killed 116 deer, including 12 fawns, over a four-night period. The crew will return sometime in August to continue the shoot.
The Humane Society of the United States says there are other, better methods to control the conflict that are also more humane. Tonight (July 26) at New Hope-Solebury High School at 6:30 p.m., the society will present a discussion of nonlethal methods. Donald Elroy, the society's director of wildlife advocacy in Washington D.C., will be the speaker.
People who attend the meeting will have the opportunity to sign a petition against the lethal methods of deer control.
The petition is intended not just for Solebury residents, but for anyone who "feels this could become an issue in their area," said Kathy Mays Acker, a former Solebury resident who now resides in Plumsteadville.
She added, "So we can show our representatives that we do not care to ever have them go and think along these lines when there are so many other ways to address this issue."
The shoot in Solebury may cause an undesirable increase in the number of deer, according to the Humane Society.
It could result in "less challenging situations and more habitat for the remaining deer," Mr. Elroy said.
He added, "When this occurs, the deer rebound by having more sets of twins, thereby increasing population numbers."
The society says other effective methods would address the collisions and the loss of income to farmers as well as Lyme disease.
"Crop loss and damage could easily be compensated by the community or through USDA," Mr. Elroy told Wildlife Services and Solebury in a letter e-mailed June 20. "Compensation for crop loss is a regular program under the auspices of the USDA."
To prevent the damage in the first place, Mr. Elroy said nurseries in the area have had "very impressive results" when they erected deer fencing.
The frequency of collisions can be lowered through a number of means, according to the society. Among the options are lower speed limits, Strieter-Lite reflectors, motion sensor flashing signals, wildlife crossings and green bridges.
The Strieter-Lite Wild Animal Highway Warning Reflector System was patented in 1994. It is designed to work between dusk and dawn when deer are most active. The system reflects vehicle headlights and sends out a reflected beam at deer. It acts to deter deer from crossing the road while traffic is approaching.
Green bridges are grassy, earth-like pathways or bridges constructed over roads. They funnel deer and other large wildlife away from the path of traffic.
With the proximity of deer to the human population comes a concern for ticks, and with certain ticks comes disease. Tick bites can result in at least 10 different diseases in humans, including Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, according to the American Lyme Disease Foundation.
The deer tick, or black-legged tick, is responsible for transmitting Lyme disease in the eastern part of the United States. It needs to feed on blood as it moves through the three stages of its life cycle, larva, nymph and adult.
In the adult stage, the tick waits on leaves or grass for a passing host, preferably a deer, and latches on as the deer passes by.
The USDA has used a device called a four-poster to deal with ticks in the deer population. It is a metal device where deer feed. As they insert their heads and necks into the device, they are brushed with a tick-killing chemical.
The Humane Society says the USDA should also consider ways to control ticks at other stages in the life cycle.
"If the ticks are controlled at an earlier developmental stage, it would have an overall larger effect on tick population and control of Lyme disease," Mr. Elroy said. "The black-legged tick is not specific to deer and transfers through a variety of hosts during different life stages."
To control the deer population, the society also points to methods of contraception as well as surgical sterilization.
"In short, there are a variety of non-lethal approaches that should have been implemented in the initial stage of any strategy or plan concerning human-deer conflict situations," Mr. Elroy said.
source: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18621086&BRD=1091&PAG=461&dept_id=425410&rfi=6
Thursday, July 12, 2007
NEW BRUNSWICK NEWS: Mild Winter, Spring Deer Population Up
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
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
RESEARCH NEWS: CWD Prion More Infectious Than Previously Thought
New research shows that the prion — a mysterious infectious agent that is neither bacterium nor virus — is 700 times more infectious when combined with common minerals found in dirt.
Not only is the prion an abnormal protein that can devastate infected animals and humans — it has has been compared to an alien due to its virtual indestructibility, its unusual ability to replicate itself and its propensity for eating away at the brain — but it may live on and remain virulent in the soil itself.
The finding is important to hunters across the country, as chronic wasting disease continues to spread in wild deer herds. It also has important implications for cattle and sheep farmers, as mad cow disease in cows and scrapie in sheep are also caused by prions.
As for humans, the implications for illness– known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease — is unknown. While serious disease among humans has been tied to the eating of meat from diseased cows, no such links have been made between venison and human health, and hunters are well informed about steps needed to reduce the risk of transmission.
Source: www.thedailygreen.com/2007/07/11/deer-hunters-beware-study-shows-cwd-virulence/3691/
Not only is the prion an abnormal protein that can devastate infected animals and humans — it has has been compared to an alien due to its virtual indestructibility, its unusual ability to replicate itself and its propensity for eating away at the brain — but it may live on and remain virulent in the soil itself.
The finding is important to hunters across the country, as chronic wasting disease continues to spread in wild deer herds. It also has important implications for cattle and sheep farmers, as mad cow disease in cows and scrapie in sheep are also caused by prions.
As for humans, the implications for illness– known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease — is unknown. While serious disease among humans has been tied to the eating of meat from diseased cows, no such links have been made between venison and human health, and hunters are well informed about steps needed to reduce the risk of transmission.
Source: www.thedailygreen.com/2007/07/11/deer-hunters-beware-study-shows-cwd-virulence/3691/
Thursday, July 05, 2007
WISCONSIN OPINION: Good Reasons to Ban Deer Baiting and Feeding
Keith McCaffery, retired northern deer biologist for the DNR, emphasizes that the state can not effectively manage deer in the presence of baiting and feeding.
"It changes their productivity, survivorship, their behavior and distribution, and greatly confounds harvest management," McCaffery said. "This is 'old hat' and has been known by deer biologists for a long time."
"But, some of the new reasons for concern are that saliva was proven to be a means of transmission for CWD, which converted a number of doubters," he said. "They had speculated that saliva was highly suspect and that has now been proven. Researchers took saliva from animals that manifested symptoms and orally gave it to fawns that later came down with CWD."
Other relatively new factors that should turn the tide against baiting and feeding, include the report last December by DNR Chief Conservation Warden Randy Stark that highlights problems wardens are seeing with illegal baiting. To McCaffery the violations that occur and the way some hunters use baiting to take over land that should be open to the public is an embarrassment.
Third is University of Wisconsin-Wildlife Ecology assistant professor Tim Van Deelen's report analyzing the effect of baiting on herd control."Van Deelen found that baiting tended to increase the archery harvest slightly, but it decreased the firearm harvest and the net effect was no effect," McCaffery said.
Another new reason why baiting and feeding should be banned, McCaffery said, is the emergence of new diseases. Michigan has had a problem with Bovine tuberculosis in its wild deer herd, and more recently Minnesota has found tuberculosis in part of its deer herd. In addition, Pseudorabies has appeared around Marshfield and there is speculation that it may have come from feral hogs. McCaffery wonders if baiting is playing a factor in its transmission.
"The fact that diseases continue to pop up should be an alarm bell," McCaffery said.
McCaffery said he has been concerned about the lack of political support for actions to control CWD in Wisconsin.
Source: http://www.madison.com/tct/sports/200107
"It changes their productivity, survivorship, their behavior and distribution, and greatly confounds harvest management," McCaffery said. "This is 'old hat' and has been known by deer biologists for a long time."
"But, some of the new reasons for concern are that saliva was proven to be a means of transmission for CWD, which converted a number of doubters," he said. "They had speculated that saliva was highly suspect and that has now been proven. Researchers took saliva from animals that manifested symptoms and orally gave it to fawns that later came down with CWD."
Other relatively new factors that should turn the tide against baiting and feeding, include the report last December by DNR Chief Conservation Warden Randy Stark that highlights problems wardens are seeing with illegal baiting. To McCaffery the violations that occur and the way some hunters use baiting to take over land that should be open to the public is an embarrassment.
Third is University of Wisconsin-Wildlife Ecology assistant professor Tim Van Deelen's report analyzing the effect of baiting on herd control."Van Deelen found that baiting tended to increase the archery harvest slightly, but it decreased the firearm harvest and the net effect was no effect," McCaffery said.
Another new reason why baiting and feeding should be banned, McCaffery said, is the emergence of new diseases. Michigan has had a problem with Bovine tuberculosis in its wild deer herd, and more recently Minnesota has found tuberculosis in part of its deer herd. In addition, Pseudorabies has appeared around Marshfield and there is speculation that it may have come from feral hogs. McCaffery wonders if baiting is playing a factor in its transmission.
"The fact that diseases continue to pop up should be an alarm bell," McCaffery said.
McCaffery said he has been concerned about the lack of political support for actions to control CWD in Wisconsin.
Source: http://www.madison.com/tct/sports/200107
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
SWITZERLAND NEWS: Another Deer in the Alps Gets Stoned
Authorities in Switzerland uncovered an illegal cannabis farm after locals complained about a stoned deer.
It is reported the deer had been attacking hikers, sleeping in roads and even wandering into homes and stores.
After numerous complaints forest rangers in Trient, Switzerland, launched an investigation.
They discovered an illegal cannabis farm set up by two locals, who were arrested as they went to harvest their crop.
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=iol1183440553562D600
It is reported the deer had been attacking hikers, sleeping in roads and even wandering into homes and stores.
After numerous complaints forest rangers in Trient, Switzerland, launched an investigation.
They discovered an illegal cannabis farm set up by two locals, who were arrested as they went to harvest their crop.
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=iol1183440553562D600
Friday, June 29, 2007
ITALY NEWS: Deer Eats Marijuana, Frisky Behavior Ensues
Forest rangers have uncovered a marijuana farm on a mountaintop near Trento after residents commented on how the deer were 'unusually frisky' and leaping about uncharacteristically.
The rangers themselves had observed that the deer were out in the daytime which is unusual for the species. Further investigation yielded some pots and the remains of marijuana plants.
Police arrested two people in their twenties over the plantation, a factory worker and a university student. The charges may be dropped, however, as the deer consumed most of the evidence.
source: http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=63330
The rangers themselves had observed that the deer were out in the daytime which is unusual for the species. Further investigation yielded some pots and the remains of marijuana plants.
Police arrested two people in their twenties over the plantation, a factory worker and a university student. The charges may be dropped, however, as the deer consumed most of the evidence.
source: http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=63330
Monday, June 25, 2007
CALIFORNIA NEWS: Santa Rosa Island Ungulates Soon To Be Back in Crosshairs
WASHINGTON -- Santa Rosa Island is once again the subject of federal legislation as California Democrats have taken steps toward restoring the National Park Service’s ability to help remove deer and elk from the island.
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the 2008 Interior Department spending bill Thursday and included a repeal of a section of law enacted late last year that restricted the park service.
Last fall, Rep. Duncal Hunter, D-Calif., specifically barred the park service from eliminating or nearly eliminating deer and elk from Santa Rosa Island, part of the Channel Islands National Park.
He had previously proposed transferring control of the island to the Defense Department and designating it as a hunting refuge for disabled veterans. But he failed to gain support for that measure.
Hunter’s provision, attached to the 2007 defense bill, intentionally conflicted with a court settlement that mandated the park service share in the cost of removing the last of the deer and elk from the island.
Source: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=38355
Under that settlement, Vail & Vickers, which holds a private hunting permit for deer and elk on the island, must begin culling the herds in 2008 and eliminate them by 2011, with the park service’s help.
The park service, which acquired the island from the Vail and Vickers family in 1986, believes the non-native deer and elk wreak havoc on the island’s ecosystem. The 53,000-acre island is home to hundreds of plant and bird species, as well as the native island fox and marine life.
Private hunting forces the park to close 45,000 acres of the island to the public from August through December.
Duncan’s law made it illegal for the park service to comply with the terms of the court settlement.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Rep. Lois Capps have been working to repeal the provision since it took effect in late 2006.
The panel’s spending bill would accomplish just that if it passes the full Senate and survives scrunity by the U.S. House later this year.
“To ensure that the public is able to enjoy year-round access to Santa Rosa and that the Park Service can protect the Island’s natural resources, it is critical that this ill-advised provision be repealed,” Capps said. “I am pleased that the Senate is moving quickly.”
Hunter’s office could not be reached for comment Friday.
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the 2008 Interior Department spending bill Thursday and included a repeal of a section of law enacted late last year that restricted the park service.
Last fall, Rep. Duncal Hunter, D-Calif., specifically barred the park service from eliminating or nearly eliminating deer and elk from Santa Rosa Island, part of the Channel Islands National Park.
He had previously proposed transferring control of the island to the Defense Department and designating it as a hunting refuge for disabled veterans. But he failed to gain support for that measure.
Hunter’s provision, attached to the 2007 defense bill, intentionally conflicted with a court settlement that mandated the park service share in the cost of removing the last of the deer and elk from the island.
Source: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=38355
Under that settlement, Vail & Vickers, which holds a private hunting permit for deer and elk on the island, must begin culling the herds in 2008 and eliminate them by 2011, with the park service’s help.
The park service, which acquired the island from the Vail and Vickers family in 1986, believes the non-native deer and elk wreak havoc on the island’s ecosystem. The 53,000-acre island is home to hundreds of plant and bird species, as well as the native island fox and marine life.
Private hunting forces the park to close 45,000 acres of the island to the public from August through December.
Duncan’s law made it illegal for the park service to comply with the terms of the court settlement.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Rep. Lois Capps have been working to repeal the provision since it took effect in late 2006.
The panel’s spending bill would accomplish just that if it passes the full Senate and survives scrunity by the U.S. House later this year.
“To ensure that the public is able to enjoy year-round access to Santa Rosa and that the Park Service can protect the Island’s natural resources, it is critical that this ill-advised provision be repealed,” Capps said. “I am pleased that the Senate is moving quickly.”
Hunter’s office could not be reached for comment Friday.
PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: Another Philly Suburb Struggles With Deer
Bow-hunting is one of three deer-control recommendations that East Goshen supervisors will listen to Tuesday night when they hear a report from a township study group, but no decision on the issue is expected until after a public hearing in September.
James McRee, who heads the township deer-management committee, said the group will unveil its plan Tuesday after finalizing it at a meeting of its own Monday.
The recommendations are that East Goshen employ a private hunting club to thin the deer herd with bows and arrows, that property owners use "non-lethal" means such as building fences and spraying repellants on plants and that the township educate its residents about deer.
"We want to do all three" of the recommendations, McRee said during an interview last week.
At the Pennsylvania Game Commission, spokesman Jerry Feaser said a town can permit hunting only on town-owned land - just as a landowner can invite or forbid hunters only on his own property - during a state hunting season.
Feaser offered a standing statement which reads:
"Only the Pennsylvania Game Commission has been empowered to regulate hunting and trapping in the commonwealth. And, while municipalities have the authority to limit the discharge of firearms and bows for target practice or other non-hunting related activities within their municipalities' limits, local officials do not have the authority to impact this activity when it is being done as part of lawful hunting."
The statement noted that "the statewide archery and crossbow safety zone is 50 yards" from most buildings but the zone for all hunters "is 150 yards from any playground, school, nursery school or day-care center."
The question for township officials, Feaser said, is: "Are they trying to impact all township property or are they acting in their role as landowner of township-owned land?"
East Goshen zoning officer Mark Gordon in an interview pointed out that if hunting becomes an option, the township will regulate it only "on township-owned property."
In an interview earlier this year, township manager Rick Smith noted that in 2005, East Goshen allowed archers in tree stands "on three parcels of the township open space. I believe they took 10 or 11 deer over the course of the hunting season."
But an aerial survey on the night of March 25-26 counted 296 deer within East Goshen and 142 nearby.
In a parallel Chester County situation, Schuylkill Township has worked to persuade homeowners to allow hunting by a private group, the White Tail Associates Hunting Club.
Jim Morrison, head of Schuylkill's deer-management committee, said that since 1993 hunters have killed 996 deer, without killing the problem.
"Despite our best efforts over 14 years," Morrison said for an April article, "we still have got a fairly high deer population."
Ellen Sinclair, an elementary school teacher, was a no vote when the East Goshen deer-management committee recently voted 6-2 to make the three recommendations to the supervisors.
"A lot of my reservations for hunting in the township are safety," Sinclair said in an interview. "I don't think we have have a well-developed plan yet."
Source: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/chester/voices/20070617_A_plan_to_reduce_the_deer_herd_to_be_
unveiled_in_East_Goshen_The_supervisors_will_hear_the_three-part_proposal_on_Tuesday_night__It_will_include_
a_hunting_plan_.html
James McRee, who heads the township deer-management committee, said the group will unveil its plan Tuesday after finalizing it at a meeting of its own Monday.
The recommendations are that East Goshen employ a private hunting club to thin the deer herd with bows and arrows, that property owners use "non-lethal" means such as building fences and spraying repellants on plants and that the township educate its residents about deer.
"We want to do all three" of the recommendations, McRee said during an interview last week.
At the Pennsylvania Game Commission, spokesman Jerry Feaser said a town can permit hunting only on town-owned land - just as a landowner can invite or forbid hunters only on his own property - during a state hunting season.
Feaser offered a standing statement which reads:
"Only the Pennsylvania Game Commission has been empowered to regulate hunting and trapping in the commonwealth. And, while municipalities have the authority to limit the discharge of firearms and bows for target practice or other non-hunting related activities within their municipalities' limits, local officials do not have the authority to impact this activity when it is being done as part of lawful hunting."
The statement noted that "the statewide archery and crossbow safety zone is 50 yards" from most buildings but the zone for all hunters "is 150 yards from any playground, school, nursery school or day-care center."
The question for township officials, Feaser said, is: "Are they trying to impact all township property or are they acting in their role as landowner of township-owned land?"
East Goshen zoning officer Mark Gordon in an interview pointed out that if hunting becomes an option, the township will regulate it only "on township-owned property."
In an interview earlier this year, township manager Rick Smith noted that in 2005, East Goshen allowed archers in tree stands "on three parcels of the township open space. I believe they took 10 or 11 deer over the course of the hunting season."
But an aerial survey on the night of March 25-26 counted 296 deer within East Goshen and 142 nearby.
In a parallel Chester County situation, Schuylkill Township has worked to persuade homeowners to allow hunting by a private group, the White Tail Associates Hunting Club.
Jim Morrison, head of Schuylkill's deer-management committee, said that since 1993 hunters have killed 996 deer, without killing the problem.
"Despite our best efforts over 14 years," Morrison said for an April article, "we still have got a fairly high deer population."
Ellen Sinclair, an elementary school teacher, was a no vote when the East Goshen deer-management committee recently voted 6-2 to make the three recommendations to the supervisors.
"A lot of my reservations for hunting in the township are safety," Sinclair said in an interview. "I don't think we have have a well-developed plan yet."
Source: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/chester/voices/20070617_A_plan_to_reduce_the_deer_herd_to_be_
unveiled_in_East_Goshen_The_supervisors_will_hear_the_three-part_proposal_on_Tuesday_night__It_will_include_
a_hunting_plan_.html
Friday, May 25, 2007
DEER BEHAVING BADLY: Daily Roundup
MICHIGAN--It wasn't your ordinary day of work for some office personnel at MSU. A mother deer and her fawn crashed right through their window. Michigan State University police say the deer, clearly disoriented, thrashed around the college of human medicine's office. One deer even jumped into an employee's lap, leaving her with minor injuries.
Source (with video): http://www.wlns.com/Global/story.asp?S=6568200
COLORADO--Run-ins in between wildlife and people are on the rise this spring. Just ask Louis Gaz, who saw a deer crash through a window and into a bedroom in his home.
"I just saw this brown flash going my direction," said Gaz, 76, who was outside with a friend on Saturday when the deer burst into his house in Lafayette, about 20 miles north of Denver.
Gaz said he tried to get the deer to leave through a door, but it eventually bolted back through the jagged hole in the window, leaving blood, fur and broken glass behind.
Source: http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2007/05/25/news/regional/612fa28241e27adf872572e5006d229f.txt
Source (with video): http://www.wlns.com/Global/story.asp?S=6568200
COLORADO--Run-ins in between wildlife and people are on the rise this spring. Just ask Louis Gaz, who saw a deer crash through a window and into a bedroom in his home.
"I just saw this brown flash going my direction," said Gaz, 76, who was outside with a friend on Saturday when the deer burst into his house in Lafayette, about 20 miles north of Denver.
Gaz said he tried to get the deer to leave through a door, but it eventually bolted back through the jagged hole in the window, leaving blood, fur and broken glass behind.
Source: http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2007/05/25/news/regional/612fa28241e27adf872572e5006d229f.txt
Monday, May 21, 2007
NEW HAMPSHIRE NEWS: Too Many in Southeast, Too Few Everywhere Else
NEW HAMPSHIRE (AP) -- New Hampshire Fish and Game officials are trying to increase the white-tailed deer population everywhere except the southeast corner of the state, where there's too much of a good thing.
Thanks to a healthy herd and good weather, hunters killed nearly 12,000 deer in New Hampshire last year, the fourth-highest total on record. More than one in ten were killed in the area stretching from the Nashua area to the Seacoast, south of Route 101.
After a serious drop in the deer population, the state limited hunting in 1983. The herd has rebounded since then, but Fish and Game would like to see it increase by another 45 percent, except in the southeast, where they'd like to see it fall by nearly one-third.
Last year, the state increased the number of special permits it sold allowing hunters to kill a second deer in that area.
Source: http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=61117
Thanks to a healthy herd and good weather, hunters killed nearly 12,000 deer in New Hampshire last year, the fourth-highest total on record. More than one in ten were killed in the area stretching from the Nashua area to the Seacoast, south of Route 101.
After a serious drop in the deer population, the state limited hunting in 1983. The herd has rebounded since then, but Fish and Game would like to see it increase by another 45 percent, except in the southeast, where they'd like to see it fall by nearly one-third.
Last year, the state increased the number of special permits it sold allowing hunters to kill a second deer in that area.
Source: http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=61117
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
INDIANA NEWS: Deer Breaks Into House, Bleeds Out
The first half of May has been quite eventful for Bob and Helen Meyer of Decatur. On May 8, their son, city police Detective Eric "Keebie" Meyer, was the upset winner of the Republican primary election for nomination to run for mayor, deposing five-term chief executive Fred Isch. Saturday, May 12 was Keebie's birthday. Sunday, May 13, was Bob's and Helen's 57th wedding anniversary and also Mother's Day.
Oh, yeah, there was one more thing: on the 12th - a young deer bashed into the couple's Mercer Ave. home and bled to death after severing a jugular vein on broken window glass. The Meyers said they were watching television around 6 p.m. on Saturday in the rear of their home when they heard glass breaking. They went to the front door and saw a man who had stopped his pickup truck on Mercer, near Adams Memorial Hospital, and who told them he had just missed two deer darting across the road. The man then said one of the deer jumped through a window into the Meyer home. That window is beside the front door, but a wall separates the door from the room next door, so Bob and Helen could not see the damage.
As they investigated the damage in that bedroom, they heard another sound of breaking glass, so they went to a second bedroom and found a young male deer on the floor, dying. "He was still kicking." Bob recalls, but there was blood everywhere: on walls, the floor, the bed, pillows, clothes, etc. The deer had apparently not been badly hurt going through the first window, but severed a major vein as he tried to escape through the second window. Luckily, the animal did not damage any of the many plastic warplane models that Bob, an Air Force veteran, has in the den and the bedroom in which the deer died.
"If he'd have damaged those planes, I would have killed him," Bob said on Tuesday. The Meyers expect their insurance to cover the losses and the replacement of such things as carpeting and even a pair of pants that Bob had never worn, but which were spotted with blood. Maybe the second half of the month will be calmer . . . but wait until the mayoral race culminates in November.
Source: http://www.decaturdailydemocrat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5501&Itemid=27
Oh, yeah, there was one more thing: on the 12th - a young deer bashed into the couple's Mercer Ave. home and bled to death after severing a jugular vein on broken window glass. The Meyers said they were watching television around 6 p.m. on Saturday in the rear of their home when they heard glass breaking. They went to the front door and saw a man who had stopped his pickup truck on Mercer, near Adams Memorial Hospital, and who told them he had just missed two deer darting across the road. The man then said one of the deer jumped through a window into the Meyer home. That window is beside the front door, but a wall separates the door from the room next door, so Bob and Helen could not see the damage.
As they investigated the damage in that bedroom, they heard another sound of breaking glass, so they went to a second bedroom and found a young male deer on the floor, dying. "He was still kicking." Bob recalls, but there was blood everywhere: on walls, the floor, the bed, pillows, clothes, etc. The deer had apparently not been badly hurt going through the first window, but severed a major vein as he tried to escape through the second window. Luckily, the animal did not damage any of the many plastic warplane models that Bob, an Air Force veteran, has in the den and the bedroom in which the deer died.
"If he'd have damaged those planes, I would have killed him," Bob said on Tuesday. The Meyers expect their insurance to cover the losses and the replacement of such things as carpeting and even a pair of pants that Bob had never worn, but which were spotted with blood. Maybe the second half of the month will be calmer . . . but wait until the mayoral race culminates in November.
Source: http://www.decaturdailydemocrat.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5501&Itemid=27
Monday, May 14, 2007
WEST VIRGINIA NEWS: Three More Cases of CWD Confirmed
CHARLESTON — Three more free-ranging white-tailed deer in Hampshire County have tested positive for chronic wasting disease, bringing the total of CWD-positive deer found in that county to 13, the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources an-nounced Friday.
These most recent samples were collected from 101 adult deer taken in March and April by DNR personnel as part of an ongoing and intensive CWD surveillance effort. The three CWD-positive deer were collected within the CWD Containment Area located north of U.S. Route 50 in Hampshire County. The laboratory testing was conducted by the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
When CWD was first confirmed in Hampshire County in September 2005, the DNR immediately implemented a response plan. The DNR has been engaged in intensive CWD surveillance efforts designed to determine the distribution and prevalence of the disease. These efforts have included carefully planned and coordinated deer collections within Hampshire County by CWD deer collection teams.
“These deer collection teams have continued their efforts to gather appropriate samples within the surveillance area to accurately determine the prevalence and distribution of CWD,” said DNR Director Frank Jezioro.
“Our initial CWD surveillance data suggests the disease is located within a relatively small geographic area located near Slanesville,” said Jezioro. “This is encouraging news. Based upon these findings, we have implemented appropriate management actions designed to control the spread of this disease, prevent further introduction of the disease and possibly eliminate the disease from the state,” Jezioro added.
Source: http://www.times-news.com/local/local_story_132093832.html
These most recent samples were collected from 101 adult deer taken in March and April by DNR personnel as part of an ongoing and intensive CWD surveillance effort. The three CWD-positive deer were collected within the CWD Containment Area located north of U.S. Route 50 in Hampshire County. The laboratory testing was conducted by the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
When CWD was first confirmed in Hampshire County in September 2005, the DNR immediately implemented a response plan. The DNR has been engaged in intensive CWD surveillance efforts designed to determine the distribution and prevalence of the disease. These efforts have included carefully planned and coordinated deer collections within Hampshire County by CWD deer collection teams.
“These deer collection teams have continued their efforts to gather appropriate samples within the surveillance area to accurately determine the prevalence and distribution of CWD,” said DNR Director Frank Jezioro.
“Our initial CWD surveillance data suggests the disease is located within a relatively small geographic area located near Slanesville,” said Jezioro. “This is encouraging news. Based upon these findings, we have implemented appropriate management actions designed to control the spread of this disease, prevent further introduction of the disease and possibly eliminate the disease from the state,” Jezioro added.
Source: http://www.times-news.com/local/local_story_132093832.html
Friday, May 11, 2007
DELAWARE NEWS: 269 Deer Shy of a Record Harvest
The numbers are in from last season's deer harvest in Delaware and the total was the second highest in state history.
Hunters bagged 14-thousand-401 deer -- that's 268 fewer than the record set in the 2004-2005 season.
More than 6-thousand of the deer were killed during the 8-day shotgun season in November.
The entire deer season spanned five months from September through January.
This was the second year for the new January handgun season. The handgun kills this year numbered 135, compared to 114 the previous year.
Source: http://www.fw.delaware.gov/Info/DeerInfo.htm.
Hunters bagged 14-thousand-401 deer -- that's 268 fewer than the record set in the 2004-2005 season.
More than 6-thousand of the deer were killed during the 8-day shotgun season in November.
The entire deer season spanned five months from September through January.
This was the second year for the new January handgun season. The handgun kills this year numbered 135, compared to 114 the previous year.
Source: http://www.fw.delaware.gov/Info/DeerInfo.htm.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
MINNESOTA NEWS: Lyme, Anaplasmosis and Babesiosis, Oh My!
You probably already know deer ticks can spread lyme disease; but now, there's new concerns about the tiny insects. Health officials are issuing a warning that deer ticks can spread more than just lyme disease.
Minnesota's Health Department says deer ticks can also spread human anaplasmosis and babesiosis. Symptoms of both diseases include high fever, muscle aches, chills, and headaches.
Health officials say they expect the number of people infected to go up. The elderly, or those with compromised immune systems, are the most vulnerable for infection.
Source: http://wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=6478976&nav=KoJE
Minnesota's Health Department says deer ticks can also spread human anaplasmosis and babesiosis. Symptoms of both diseases include high fever, muscle aches, chills, and headaches.
Health officials say they expect the number of people infected to go up. The elderly, or those with compromised immune systems, are the most vulnerable for infection.
Source: http://wkbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=6478976&nav=KoJE
Friday, April 27, 2007
MULTIPLE LOCATIONS: More Deer Behaving Badly
New Jersey- A deer became an unexpected guest at a Gloucester County hair salon when it slammed through a glass window.
The deer launched itself head-first through the window of Salon Leezae in Franklin Township at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday while the salon was packed with customers.
Surveillance cameras in the salon captured video of the animal leaping over a customer before landing in the lobby. After flailing around for a few seconds, the deer made a grand exit, jumping back out the gaping hole it left in the window.
"I just couldn’t believe it; we really were in shock," store owner Lisa Vicheto-Scapellato said.
Lisa's daughter and her friend, in the salon for 'Bring Your Daughter to Work Day,' had a front seat view and said at first they thought it was a car because the crash was so loud.
"No one would think that the deer would just jump right through the window," Lisa's daughter said.
"He was kicking all over when he was right by the front and he kicked glass everywhere and it hit me on my arm," she said.
"Right away, I am like 'who do we call, who do we call?' I am thinking of animal control, because we are worried about the deer after we knew that all the human beings were okay," Lisa said.
Lisa's daughter had to get two stitches but luckily there were no other serious injuries.
The deer was last seen fleeing the salon, heading towards Delsea Drive and into the nearby woods where witnesses believe it came from.
Michigan -- Officers used a Taser to subdue a whitetail deer that jumped through a window into an apartment in downtown Owosso Thursday morning.
The 140-pound doe ran through the apartment, knocking things over, before the two men inside closed it in a bathroom, Deputy Chief Mike Rau said.
The officers immobilized the animal with a Taser until state Department of Natural Resources officers sedated it and carried it out of the building, Rau said. The deer suffered injuries and was later destroyed, he said.
Source:
http://cbs3.com/topstories/local_story_116234528.html
http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/newsnow/2007/04/deer_jumps_into_apartment_wind.html
The deer launched itself head-first through the window of Salon Leezae in Franklin Township at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday while the salon was packed with customers.
Surveillance cameras in the salon captured video of the animal leaping over a customer before landing in the lobby. After flailing around for a few seconds, the deer made a grand exit, jumping back out the gaping hole it left in the window.
"I just couldn’t believe it; we really were in shock," store owner Lisa Vicheto-Scapellato said.
Lisa's daughter and her friend, in the salon for 'Bring Your Daughter to Work Day,' had a front seat view and said at first they thought it was a car because the crash was so loud.
"No one would think that the deer would just jump right through the window," Lisa's daughter said.
"He was kicking all over when he was right by the front and he kicked glass everywhere and it hit me on my arm," she said.
"Right away, I am like 'who do we call, who do we call?' I am thinking of animal control, because we are worried about the deer after we knew that all the human beings were okay," Lisa said.
Lisa's daughter had to get two stitches but luckily there were no other serious injuries.
The deer was last seen fleeing the salon, heading towards Delsea Drive and into the nearby woods where witnesses believe it came from.
Michigan -- Officers used a Taser to subdue a whitetail deer that jumped through a window into an apartment in downtown Owosso Thursday morning.
The 140-pound doe ran through the apartment, knocking things over, before the two men inside closed it in a bathroom, Deputy Chief Mike Rau said.
The officers immobilized the animal with a Taser until state Department of Natural Resources officers sedated it and carried it out of the building, Rau said. The deer suffered injuries and was later destroyed, he said.
Source:
http://cbs3.com/topstories/local_story_116234528.html
http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/newsnow/2007/04/deer_jumps_into_apartment_wind.html
Thursday, April 26, 2007
MULTIPLE LOCATIONS: Deer Behaving Badly
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania:
Hoof prints in the mulch and flower beds, a bent railing, and traces of glass were the only visual reminders left behind after three deer took a stroll through an Adams County retirement home Wednesday morning.
At about 10:30 a.m., three deer entered the west entrance of the Cross Keys Village – The Brethren Home Community through an automatic door and wandered through several hallways before leaving, said Frank Buhrman, director of communications and public relations.
"It was over quickly. We're just extraordinarily fortunate it was without incident," Buhrman said.
Villanova, Pennsylvania
Two deer entered Moulden Hall on West Campus this Sunday, causing damage to the residence hall and wreaking havoc at a student barbeque. Students alerted Public Safety of the incident.
"[We responded] to a report of a live deer roaming inside the building," Public Safety Senior Investigator Jim Conway said.
At approximately 7:45 p.m., the animals entered the building through the door closest to Klekotka Hall. Resident Assistants held a barbeque for the residents of West Campus from 4 to 7 p.m., and students propped open the door as they moved in and out of the residence hall.
Five public safety officers, including a sergeant who served as shift supervisor, reported to the scene to find the deer on the ground floor in the hallway closest to Klekotka Hall. The officers proceeded to ensure that all of the doors to Moulden Hall were secured and that all students cleared out of the way.
The Public Safety officers then called Radnor Police, hoping that they would have animal tranquilizers, Conway said.
Radnor Police did not have any animal tranquilizers to offer Public Safety, but two Radnor police officers did report to the scene.
The officers worked together and "forced the deer out of the open lobby door," Conway said. The deer were not injured.
Rogersville, Tennessee
Police aren't looking for a suspect who broke through an elderly Rogersville woman's bedroom window Wednesday morning and trashed her apartment.
But the suspect's wanted poster can likely be seen at any outdoor sporting goods store.
Madge Webster, 79, said Wednesday that "by the grace of God" she was sleeping on her couch Wednesday shortly before 1 a.m. when a deer crashed through her bedroom window, landing on her bed.
There's no telling how badly Webster might have been injured had she been under the covers as the hooves stomped across her bed.
The sound of breaking glass startled Webster awake at her apartment at 970 Woodlawn Ave.
At first she thought it might have been her grandson, who smokes outside. But the intruder's identity became apparent when an adult deer stormed through her bedroom door, bouncing off of walls and furniture into the kitchen and dining room area.
"It was just the Lord's will because it came through my bedroom window, across my bed, and I'm glad I wasn't in it," Webster told the Times-News. "I looked up and saw this thing, and I didn't know what in the world it was. I said, ‘Oh dear God what is that?' and I jumped up right quick.
"It was climbing the walls. There's hair all over the walls. It got up on the tables. All my collectibles were destroyed. I just happened to go open the door, and when I did it ran out through the storm door."
Sources:
http://www.eveningsun.com/localnews/ci_5755909
http://media.www.villanovan.com/media/storage/paper581/news/2007/04/26/News/Deer-Invade.West.Campus-2880421.shtml
http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=3754086
Hoof prints in the mulch and flower beds, a bent railing, and traces of glass were the only visual reminders left behind after three deer took a stroll through an Adams County retirement home Wednesday morning.
At about 10:30 a.m., three deer entered the west entrance of the Cross Keys Village – The Brethren Home Community through an automatic door and wandered through several hallways before leaving, said Frank Buhrman, director of communications and public relations.
"It was over quickly. We're just extraordinarily fortunate it was without incident," Buhrman said.
Villanova, Pennsylvania
Two deer entered Moulden Hall on West Campus this Sunday, causing damage to the residence hall and wreaking havoc at a student barbeque. Students alerted Public Safety of the incident.
"[We responded] to a report of a live deer roaming inside the building," Public Safety Senior Investigator Jim Conway said.
At approximately 7:45 p.m., the animals entered the building through the door closest to Klekotka Hall. Resident Assistants held a barbeque for the residents of West Campus from 4 to 7 p.m., and students propped open the door as they moved in and out of the residence hall.
Five public safety officers, including a sergeant who served as shift supervisor, reported to the scene to find the deer on the ground floor in the hallway closest to Klekotka Hall. The officers proceeded to ensure that all of the doors to Moulden Hall were secured and that all students cleared out of the way.
The Public Safety officers then called Radnor Police, hoping that they would have animal tranquilizers, Conway said.
Radnor Police did not have any animal tranquilizers to offer Public Safety, but two Radnor police officers did report to the scene.
The officers worked together and "forced the deer out of the open lobby door," Conway said. The deer were not injured.
Rogersville, Tennessee
Police aren't looking for a suspect who broke through an elderly Rogersville woman's bedroom window Wednesday morning and trashed her apartment.
But the suspect's wanted poster can likely be seen at any outdoor sporting goods store.
Madge Webster, 79, said Wednesday that "by the grace of God" she was sleeping on her couch Wednesday shortly before 1 a.m. when a deer crashed through her bedroom window, landing on her bed.
There's no telling how badly Webster might have been injured had she been under the covers as the hooves stomped across her bed.
The sound of breaking glass startled Webster awake at her apartment at 970 Woodlawn Ave.
At first she thought it might have been her grandson, who smokes outside. But the intruder's identity became apparent when an adult deer stormed through her bedroom door, bouncing off of walls and furniture into the kitchen and dining room area.
"It was just the Lord's will because it came through my bedroom window, across my bed, and I'm glad I wasn't in it," Webster told the Times-News. "I looked up and saw this thing, and I didn't know what in the world it was. I said, ‘Oh dear God what is that?' and I jumped up right quick.
"It was climbing the walls. There's hair all over the walls. It got up on the tables. All my collectibles were destroyed. I just happened to go open the door, and when I did it ran out through the storm door."
Sources:
http://www.eveningsun.com/localnews/ci_5755909
http://media.www.villanovan.com/media/storage/paper581/news/2007/04/26/News/Deer-Invade.West.Campus-2880421.shtml
http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=3754086
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: Game Commission Board of Directors Vs. Biologists
Rooney's two cents: Hey Thomas Boop--of course you would never run a business this way. Then again, (1) this is not a business, which is a good thing, because (2) the price of deer tags does not include many of the economic costs of deer damage, such as auto collisions and medical treatment, crop and landscape damage, disease transmission to humans and livestock, and damage to forests and forestry. I'm all for your proposal to fix the "fatal flaws" in the deer management program if you are all for adding these externalities into the price of tags. I think hunters might balk at the $200-300 price per tag, though (based on some back of the envelope calculations).
HARRISBURG, Pa. - The president of the Pennsylvania Game Commission's board of directors said Tuesday the agency's controversial deer-management plan is "fatally flawed."
"We would never run a business the way we're running our deer-management program," board president Thomas E. Boop said.
Just a few hours after Boop delivered his stinging criticism of the program, the agency biologists responsible for that program recommended continuing it with virtually no changes for the upcoming 2007-08 hunting season.
"We're going to base our information and recommendations on the best science that we can and on the best data that we can," said Cal DuBrock, head of the Game Commission's Bureau of Wildlife Management.
Tuesday was the first day of the Game Commission's annual, two-day spring meeting, at which hunting and trapping seasons and bag limits for the state's game animals are set for the following fall and winter. The commissioners will vote today to set those seasons and bag limits.
As has been the case over the past decade, deer and deer management proved to be the most discussed and most controversial topics of the meeting's first day.
Hunters lined up to tell the commissioners the deer herd across the state has been decimated by years of overhunting.
"To stay the course (with the management program) would adversely affect the sport of hunting for all ages in our state," said East Hempfield Township resident Charles Bolgiano, who is legislative liaison for Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania.
Likewise, forest managers and people interested in seeing diversified wildlife and plant life lined up to encourage the commissioners not to alter the course of the deer-management program.
"We are finally seeing signs of recovery in forest regeneration," said Jim Chapman, a forest manager who works for a lumber company in Warren County.
Wildlife biologist Chris Rosenberry, who heads the Game Commission's deer-management division, agreed with Chapman's assessment, and said now is not the time to reverse course on the program.
The health of the state's deer and the health of the state's forest, Rosenberry said, indicate the Game Commission must keep up the current amount of hunting pressure applied to the deer herd.
As a result, Rosenberry recommended the commissioners vote today to maintain last year's slate of hunting seasons, with the exception of extending it in part of the southeast region, where deer numbers are particularly high.
He also recommended the commissioners allocate 6,000 more antlerless deer licenses than they issued last year, for a total of 865,000 licenses.
The Game Commission controls the state's deer population by regulating the number of female deer that are killed each year.
Each license allows a hunter to kill one antlerless deer, which is either a doe, a buck that's too young to have grown antlers or an older buck that has lost its antlers.
State Rep. Sam Rohrer of Berks County, who is the minority chairman of the House Game & Fisheries Committee, said more people from across the state complain to him about the deer-management program than any other issue.
Hunters are complaining to their legislators about the lack of deer, Rohrer said, because the hunters believe the Game Commission isn't listening to their opinions.
Rohrer said the Game Commission's data regarding the state's deer herd sometimes contradicts itself. He recommended the agency submit to an independent audit of its facts and figures.
Boop supported Rohrer's proposal, saying he "can't make any sense out of the data I've seen."
Rohrer said he believes the Legislature would help finance and facilitate the audit if the Game Commission would submit to it.
And he recommended the agency suspend all antlerless deer hunting by adults during the annual two-week firearms deer season this fall until the audit is conducted.
"All I'm asking for is a little bit of a break in the program so that we can focus on the data collection," Rohrer said.
Source: http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/202993
HARRISBURG, Pa. - The president of the Pennsylvania Game Commission's board of directors said Tuesday the agency's controversial deer-management plan is "fatally flawed."
"We would never run a business the way we're running our deer-management program," board president Thomas E. Boop said.
Just a few hours after Boop delivered his stinging criticism of the program, the agency biologists responsible for that program recommended continuing it with virtually no changes for the upcoming 2007-08 hunting season.
"We're going to base our information and recommendations on the best science that we can and on the best data that we can," said Cal DuBrock, head of the Game Commission's Bureau of Wildlife Management.
Tuesday was the first day of the Game Commission's annual, two-day spring meeting, at which hunting and trapping seasons and bag limits for the state's game animals are set for the following fall and winter. The commissioners will vote today to set those seasons and bag limits.
As has been the case over the past decade, deer and deer management proved to be the most discussed and most controversial topics of the meeting's first day.
Hunters lined up to tell the commissioners the deer herd across the state has been decimated by years of overhunting.
"To stay the course (with the management program) would adversely affect the sport of hunting for all ages in our state," said East Hempfield Township resident Charles Bolgiano, who is legislative liaison for Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania.
Likewise, forest managers and people interested in seeing diversified wildlife and plant life lined up to encourage the commissioners not to alter the course of the deer-management program.
"We are finally seeing signs of recovery in forest regeneration," said Jim Chapman, a forest manager who works for a lumber company in Warren County.
Wildlife biologist Chris Rosenberry, who heads the Game Commission's deer-management division, agreed with Chapman's assessment, and said now is not the time to reverse course on the program.
The health of the state's deer and the health of the state's forest, Rosenberry said, indicate the Game Commission must keep up the current amount of hunting pressure applied to the deer herd.
As a result, Rosenberry recommended the commissioners vote today to maintain last year's slate of hunting seasons, with the exception of extending it in part of the southeast region, where deer numbers are particularly high.
He also recommended the commissioners allocate 6,000 more antlerless deer licenses than they issued last year, for a total of 865,000 licenses.
The Game Commission controls the state's deer population by regulating the number of female deer that are killed each year.
Each license allows a hunter to kill one antlerless deer, which is either a doe, a buck that's too young to have grown antlers or an older buck that has lost its antlers.
State Rep. Sam Rohrer of Berks County, who is the minority chairman of the House Game & Fisheries Committee, said more people from across the state complain to him about the deer-management program than any other issue.
Hunters are complaining to their legislators about the lack of deer, Rohrer said, because the hunters believe the Game Commission isn't listening to their opinions.
Rohrer said the Game Commission's data regarding the state's deer herd sometimes contradicts itself. He recommended the agency submit to an independent audit of its facts and figures.
Boop supported Rohrer's proposal, saying he "can't make any sense out of the data I've seen."
Rohrer said he believes the Legislature would help finance and facilitate the audit if the Game Commission would submit to it.
And he recommended the agency suspend all antlerless deer hunting by adults during the annual two-week firearms deer season this fall until the audit is conducted.
"All I'm asking for is a little bit of a break in the program so that we can focus on the data collection," Rohrer said.
Source: http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/202993
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
NEW ZEALAND NEWS: Cull on Secretary Island Nets Over 340 Red Deer
The Department of Conservation has culled more than 340 red deer off the 8140ha Secretary Island in Fiordland since November as part of an ambitious plan to eradicate the species and create another predator-free sanctuary.
In its proposal document, DOC says it also plans to test and develop methods for "intensive control of deer" during the eradication.
Secretary Island is off the Fiordland coast at the entrance to Doubtful Sound.
In 2004 Conservation Minister Chris Carter granted $7 million for the pest eradication work on 8140ha Secretary Island and 20,860ha Resolution Island, in Dusky Sound. An earlier attempt to eradicate deer, during the 1970s and 1980s, was unsuccessful. The first stage, a stoat eradication project for Secretary Island, was initiated in 2004-05.
DOC project manager Dr Kerri-Anne Edge said 341 deer had been shot from the air and ground-hunted since November – representing a significant denting of the deer population.
DOC estimated there had been a total population of between 600 and 700 deer on the island but the species was also breeding rapidly.
The eradication of red deer from Secretary Island is designed to protect the ecological values of the island, and to test and develop "methods for intensive control of deer" , DOC says.
Main methods being tried during the knock-down phase will be ground hunting, helicopter hunting and possibly the use of foliar baited 1080 gel as a promising option. Aerial 1080 drops have been discounted.
Ms Edge said deer pens were being put on the island and self-attaching radio collars would be used to help track deer. The work would continue into next year, she said.
To have the two islands free of all pests would add to a list of important island sanctuaries, including 1336ha Codfish, 1150ha Anchor and 475ha Chalky islands. The island projects are expected to be complete by about 2014. Work on eradicating deer from Resolution Island would start in July, she said.
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/southlandtimes/4027345a6568.html
In its proposal document, DOC says it also plans to test and develop methods for "intensive control of deer" during the eradication.
Secretary Island is off the Fiordland coast at the entrance to Doubtful Sound.
In 2004 Conservation Minister Chris Carter granted $7 million for the pest eradication work on 8140ha Secretary Island and 20,860ha Resolution Island, in Dusky Sound. An earlier attempt to eradicate deer, during the 1970s and 1980s, was unsuccessful. The first stage, a stoat eradication project for Secretary Island, was initiated in 2004-05.
DOC project manager Dr Kerri-Anne Edge said 341 deer had been shot from the air and ground-hunted since November – representing a significant denting of the deer population.
DOC estimated there had been a total population of between 600 and 700 deer on the island but the species was also breeding rapidly.
The eradication of red deer from Secretary Island is designed to protect the ecological values of the island, and to test and develop "methods for intensive control of deer" , DOC says.
Main methods being tried during the knock-down phase will be ground hunting, helicopter hunting and possibly the use of foliar baited 1080 gel as a promising option. Aerial 1080 drops have been discounted.
Ms Edge said deer pens were being put on the island and self-attaching radio collars would be used to help track deer. The work would continue into next year, she said.
To have the two islands free of all pests would add to a list of important island sanctuaries, including 1336ha Codfish, 1150ha Anchor and 475ha Chalky islands. The island projects are expected to be complete by about 2014. Work on eradicating deer from Resolution Island would start in July, she said.
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/southlandtimes/4027345a6568.html
Thursday, April 05, 2007
PENNSYLVANIA: Audubon Society Weighs in on Deer Population
The over-browsing of Pennsylvania's forests and agricultural areas by too many deer in too many places has eliminated thousands of acres of habitat for birds and other wildlife, and represents the largest single threat to bird habitat, after urban sprawl, according to Timothy D. Schaeffer, Ph.D., Executive Director of Audubon Pennsylvania, the state office of the National Audubon Society.
Dr. Schaeffer made the comments before the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee at a listening session on rural and agricultural issues in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
"The impact of deer on our forest ecosystem, the crop and forest
products losses, the loss of life and property from deer/car collisions and
the impact on public health from the incidence of Lyme disease carried by
deer have all been documented and the picture painted by these numbers is
not good," said Dr. Schaeffer.
A study released in March by the Department of Conservation and Natural
Resources showed fewer than 25 percent of the 41,650 forest plots they
looked at across the state showed desirable forest regeneration and almost
45 percent lacked any new, woody growth.
"Here in the Lebanon area -- the Conrad Weiser Forest District -- the
results are even worse," Dr. Schaeffer explained. "59 percent of the 1,126
forest plots surveyed showed no forest regeneration and 28 percent showed
regeneration with undesirable species."
The DCNR study and a 2005 study by Audubon Pennsylvania and the
Pennsylvania Habitat Alliance show that high deer populations have greatly
altered forest understories. The abundance of native wildflowers and other
forest-floor plants has been greatly diminished, shrub species have been
dramatically decreased or eliminated, and the variety of tree species has
declined.
From a bird and wildlife resource perspective, nearly every one of
Audubon's 84 Important Bird Areas in Pennsylvania has experienced
significant damage caused by deer over-browsing, reducing much-needed
habitat areas. These are areas of habitat critical to the survival and
diversity of bird populations that must meet dozens of science-based
criteria for designation.
"In addition to habitat losses, there is an estimated $90 million in
agricultural crop loss and $73 million in damage to our forest products
every year caused by deer, according to the Department of Agriculture,"
said Dr. Schaeffer. "Nurseries are losing an average of $20,000 a year due
to deer damage, and state taxpayers lose $18 million a year in deferred and
lost timber stumpage sales."
In addition, a 2006 hearing by the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs
Committee found --
-- Over $78 million in property damage occur in the over 39,000 deer/car
collisions each year in Pennsylvania, not counting the deaths and
injuries to the people involved, the highest of any state in the
nation; and
-- The incidence of Lyme disease, a debilitating and sometimes fatal
illness spread by deer ticks, has increased by over 9,000 percent
between 1987 and 2004, according to the Department of Health.
"Hunters will never agree on how many deer there should be in the
woods, and deer certainly don't go where hunters want them to; they go
where there's food and cover," said Dr. Schaeffer. "Deer are having a
devastating impact on forest ecosystems and many agricultural areas, and we
need to continue common sense policies to stem these losses."
Audubon Pennsylvania made several recommendations to the Committee --
-- The first priority should be the restoration and maintenance of fully
functional forest ecosystems, containing a full component of native
biological diversity at all levels. It is the best way to serve the
long-term interests of the people and wildlife of Pennsylvania.
-- Policy-makers and land managers should focus on the indicators of
forest health -- rather than the number of deer people are seeing -- to
assess whether our forests are recovering.
-- Until data shows Pennsylvania's forests are recovering, it would be
imprudent and irresponsible to further limit hunter effectiveness
through restrictions on hunting such as shorter seasons and smaller
antlerless allocations.
-- Support House Bill 550, sponsored by Rep. Hershey (R-Chester) and Rep.
Tom Caltagirone (D-Berks), allowing the owners of farms, forestland and
landscape nurseries to better protect agricultural commodities from the
damage caused by deer and other wildlife and would make it easier for
landowners, local governments and communities to obtain deer removal
permits. Sen. McIlhinney (R-Bucks) is considering introduction of a
similar bill in the Senate.
-- The General Assembly, Governor's Office and the Game Commission should
identify a funding base that is more stable and equitable than funding
derived almost exclusively from sources such as license dollars and
timber sales on game lands in order to facilitate the shift from
single-species management to ecosystem management.
For more information, visit Audubon Pennsylvania's website at:
http://pa.audubon.org/deer_report.html
SOURCE Audubon Pennsylvania and
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-05-2007/0004560408&EDATE=
Dr. Schaeffer made the comments before the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee at a listening session on rural and agricultural issues in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
"The impact of deer on our forest ecosystem, the crop and forest
products losses, the loss of life and property from deer/car collisions and
the impact on public health from the incidence of Lyme disease carried by
deer have all been documented and the picture painted by these numbers is
not good," said Dr. Schaeffer.
A study released in March by the Department of Conservation and Natural
Resources showed fewer than 25 percent of the 41,650 forest plots they
looked at across the state showed desirable forest regeneration and almost
45 percent lacked any new, woody growth.
"Here in the Lebanon area -- the Conrad Weiser Forest District -- the
results are even worse," Dr. Schaeffer explained. "59 percent of the 1,126
forest plots surveyed showed no forest regeneration and 28 percent showed
regeneration with undesirable species."
The DCNR study and a 2005 study by Audubon Pennsylvania and the
Pennsylvania Habitat Alliance show that high deer populations have greatly
altered forest understories. The abundance of native wildflowers and other
forest-floor plants has been greatly diminished, shrub species have been
dramatically decreased or eliminated, and the variety of tree species has
declined.
From a bird and wildlife resource perspective, nearly every one of
Audubon's 84 Important Bird Areas in Pennsylvania has experienced
significant damage caused by deer over-browsing, reducing much-needed
habitat areas. These are areas of habitat critical to the survival and
diversity of bird populations that must meet dozens of science-based
criteria for designation.
"In addition to habitat losses, there is an estimated $90 million in
agricultural crop loss and $73 million in damage to our forest products
every year caused by deer, according to the Department of Agriculture,"
said Dr. Schaeffer. "Nurseries are losing an average of $20,000 a year due
to deer damage, and state taxpayers lose $18 million a year in deferred and
lost timber stumpage sales."
In addition, a 2006 hearing by the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs
Committee found --
-- Over $78 million in property damage occur in the over 39,000 deer/car
collisions each year in Pennsylvania, not counting the deaths and
injuries to the people involved, the highest of any state in the
nation; and
-- The incidence of Lyme disease, a debilitating and sometimes fatal
illness spread by deer ticks, has increased by over 9,000 percent
between 1987 and 2004, according to the Department of Health.
"Hunters will never agree on how many deer there should be in the
woods, and deer certainly don't go where hunters want them to; they go
where there's food and cover," said Dr. Schaeffer. "Deer are having a
devastating impact on forest ecosystems and many agricultural areas, and we
need to continue common sense policies to stem these losses."
Audubon Pennsylvania made several recommendations to the Committee --
-- The first priority should be the restoration and maintenance of fully
functional forest ecosystems, containing a full component of native
biological diversity at all levels. It is the best way to serve the
long-term interests of the people and wildlife of Pennsylvania.
-- Policy-makers and land managers should focus on the indicators of
forest health -- rather than the number of deer people are seeing -- to
assess whether our forests are recovering.
-- Until data shows Pennsylvania's forests are recovering, it would be
imprudent and irresponsible to further limit hunter effectiveness
through restrictions on hunting such as shorter seasons and smaller
antlerless allocations.
-- Support House Bill 550, sponsored by Rep. Hershey (R-Chester) and Rep.
Tom Caltagirone (D-Berks), allowing the owners of farms, forestland and
landscape nurseries to better protect agricultural commodities from the
damage caused by deer and other wildlife and would make it easier for
landowners, local governments and communities to obtain deer removal
permits. Sen. McIlhinney (R-Bucks) is considering introduction of a
similar bill in the Senate.
-- The General Assembly, Governor's Office and the Game Commission should
identify a funding base that is more stable and equitable than funding
derived almost exclusively from sources such as license dollars and
timber sales on game lands in order to facilitate the shift from
single-species management to ecosystem management.
For more information, visit Audubon Pennsylvania's website at:
http://pa.audubon.org/deer_report.html
SOURCE Audubon Pennsylvania and
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-05-2007/0004560408&EDATE=
Monday, April 02, 2007
PENNSYLVANIA NEWS: Forest Regeneration Failure at 75% Statewide
PITTSBURGH - A new state survey shows that Pennsylvania's deer herd is nibbling away at new growth in the state's forest lands at an alarming rate.
Nearly 42,000 plots surveyed from the air in 19 of the state's 20 forest districts show a lack of new, woody growth. Less than 25 percent of the plots in the state showed a desirable level of new vegetation.
The areas with the worst growth were the Weiser, Kittanning, Wyoming, Sproul and Delaware state forests in north-central Pennsylvania.
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Michael DiBerardinis called the results of the recent air survey troubling.
The information gathered will be used to direct hunters to certain forest areas, so the deer herd can be thinned more in those areas where deer are nibbling away at new plants and trees, DiBerardinis said.
Hunters killed 361,560 deer in 2006, 2 percent more than in 2005. It was the first time the deer kill increased since 2002. Hunters killed 135,290 bucks last year, a 12 percent increase over 2005.
Source: http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/sports/colleges/mercer/17014721.htm
Nearly 42,000 plots surveyed from the air in 19 of the state's 20 forest districts show a lack of new, woody growth. Less than 25 percent of the plots in the state showed a desirable level of new vegetation.
The areas with the worst growth were the Weiser, Kittanning, Wyoming, Sproul and Delaware state forests in north-central Pennsylvania.
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Michael DiBerardinis called the results of the recent air survey troubling.
The information gathered will be used to direct hunters to certain forest areas, so the deer herd can be thinned more in those areas where deer are nibbling away at new plants and trees, DiBerardinis said.
Hunters killed 361,560 deer in 2006, 2 percent more than in 2005. It was the first time the deer kill increased since 2002. Hunters killed 135,290 bucks last year, a 12 percent increase over 2005.
Source: http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/sports/colleges/mercer/17014721.htm
Friday, March 30, 2007
MONTANA NEWS: Helena Task Force Recommends Sharpshooters
Helena’s Urban Wildlife Task Force has recommended officials use sharpshooters in most areas of the city to kill 334 deer next winter. If the city waits even a year, the group’s report said, more than 600 deer will have to be culled in order to attain an acceptable population of urban deer.
The task force’s report said the city now could be home to as many as 500 mule deer, with most living in Helena’s southern neighborhoods. Group members called the estimate conservative. If left unchecked, the population could grow to more than 1,800 by 2010, the report said. The group wants to reduce the herd to about 380 animals.
“Given the situation we’re in, (sharpshooting) is probably the most effective, it’s probably the safest, and while this may sound strange … it’s the most humane,” Task Force Co-Chair Matt Cohn said. “This is going to be the best method to achieve the goal we have.”
The group also recommended the city commission set aside between $30,000 and $100,000 for a deer-management program and appoint a permanent wildlife advisory committee to oversee the program into the future.
Task force members are set to present their report to city commissioners on Wednesday.
The report represents the end of one phase and the beginning of another. City commissioners will hold public meetings and discuss the issue. If they settle on a management plan, they’ll have to submit it to the state Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission for final approval.
City Commissioner Sandy Oitzinger served on the task force, which reached its decision through consensus votes. She said she’s unsure how she’ll address the deer issue at the commission level.
“How I will vote on this as a commissioner is going to depend on the interaction and dialogue with the commission … it would be premature for me to say whether I’m going to support the sharpshooting option or not at this time,” Oitzinger said.
The task force recommended several other options — including ongoing public education and encouraging the use of deer repellants and deer-proof landscaping. The group approved other options, such as fertility controls and certified urban hunting, which members said could become more viable in the future.
“There are some things that we’ve approved, but they’re on the backburner,” group member Bob Habeck said. “We wanted to recommend the slate of appropriate management options, even though they might not come into play in one year.”
Task force members rejected two options: doing nothing, or trapping deer and moving them elsewhere.
The group said allowing the deer herd to continue to grow unchecked will only exacerbate the problem, and the trap-and-transport option, while popular at public meetings held early this year, has a number of associated issues — it’s time-consuming and expensive, it potentially shifts the problem elsewhere and deer often die during the process.
The full report will be available on the city’s Web site, at the Lewis and Clark Library and at the city Parks and Recreation Department after it’s presented to city commissioners.
The herd
Helena is unique from the scores of other communities across the country that have adopted deer-management plans — the Queen City is home to mule deer, while the vast majority of other cities dealing with burgeoning herds are home to whitetails.
“The task force is plowing new ground when it comes to mule deer, because there are virtually no mule deer plans — they are all for whitetail deer,” said FWP Biologist Gayle Joslin, who served on the task force.
The group believes more than 32 deer occupy every square mile in Helena, and population projections put the herd’s total at more than 700 animals by next winter. The group settled on a goal of 25 deer per square mile, a number some other communities have used for whitetail deer, Joslin said.
In a biological sense, Helena — with its watered lawn and gardens and city limits expanding more and more into wildlife habitat — could feed many more deer. The trick is finding how many deer Helenans are willing to live with, and task force members said total elimination is not an option.
Joslin said 25 per square mile might not be the right number, but it’s a place to start.
Is there a problem?
One of the basic questions task force members considered throughout the process — and an issue they heard again and again from the public — is whether an urban deer problem exists in Helena.
The group’s answer: Yes. And it’s only going to get worse.
“The (human) population that we see is going to grow, and the deer population is going to grow,” Task Force Co-Chair Virginia Niccolucci said. “We would have nothing other than more human-deer conflicts, unless we do something now.”
Habeck agreed.
“Using professional judgment and conservative estimates … we’re on the footslope of (an exponential) growth in urban deer population,” he said.
If city and FWP commissioners can’t agree on a plan for even one year, the problem grows, he said.
“The key thing to know is, even in a best-case scenario, we’re going to be losing time and … it’s just going to get worse,” Habeck said.
In 2003, the Police Department received 103 complaints about deer, most of them calls about dead animals. The department received 16 reports of deer-vehicle collisions. Last year, dispatchers fielded 241 calls, with 30 reported collisions. FWP received 73 calls in 2004 and 162 calls last year.
Source: http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/03/30/helena/000deer.txt
The task force’s report said the city now could be home to as many as 500 mule deer, with most living in Helena’s southern neighborhoods. Group members called the estimate conservative. If left unchecked, the population could grow to more than 1,800 by 2010, the report said. The group wants to reduce the herd to about 380 animals.
“Given the situation we’re in, (sharpshooting) is probably the most effective, it’s probably the safest, and while this may sound strange … it’s the most humane,” Task Force Co-Chair Matt Cohn said. “This is going to be the best method to achieve the goal we have.”
The group also recommended the city commission set aside between $30,000 and $100,000 for a deer-management program and appoint a permanent wildlife advisory committee to oversee the program into the future.
Task force members are set to present their report to city commissioners on Wednesday.
The report represents the end of one phase and the beginning of another. City commissioners will hold public meetings and discuss the issue. If they settle on a management plan, they’ll have to submit it to the state Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission for final approval.
City Commissioner Sandy Oitzinger served on the task force, which reached its decision through consensus votes. She said she’s unsure how she’ll address the deer issue at the commission level.
“How I will vote on this as a commissioner is going to depend on the interaction and dialogue with the commission … it would be premature for me to say whether I’m going to support the sharpshooting option or not at this time,” Oitzinger said.
The task force recommended several other options — including ongoing public education and encouraging the use of deer repellants and deer-proof landscaping. The group approved other options, such as fertility controls and certified urban hunting, which members said could become more viable in the future.
“There are some things that we’ve approved, but they’re on the backburner,” group member Bob Habeck said. “We wanted to recommend the slate of appropriate management options, even though they might not come into play in one year.”
Task force members rejected two options: doing nothing, or trapping deer and moving them elsewhere.
The group said allowing the deer herd to continue to grow unchecked will only exacerbate the problem, and the trap-and-transport option, while popular at public meetings held early this year, has a number of associated issues — it’s time-consuming and expensive, it potentially shifts the problem elsewhere and deer often die during the process.
The full report will be available on the city’s Web site, at the Lewis and Clark Library and at the city Parks and Recreation Department after it’s presented to city commissioners.
The herd
Helena is unique from the scores of other communities across the country that have adopted deer-management plans — the Queen City is home to mule deer, while the vast majority of other cities dealing with burgeoning herds are home to whitetails.
“The task force is plowing new ground when it comes to mule deer, because there are virtually no mule deer plans — they are all for whitetail deer,” said FWP Biologist Gayle Joslin, who served on the task force.
The group believes more than 32 deer occupy every square mile in Helena, and population projections put the herd’s total at more than 700 animals by next winter. The group settled on a goal of 25 deer per square mile, a number some other communities have used for whitetail deer, Joslin said.
In a biological sense, Helena — with its watered lawn and gardens and city limits expanding more and more into wildlife habitat — could feed many more deer. The trick is finding how many deer Helenans are willing to live with, and task force members said total elimination is not an option.
Joslin said 25 per square mile might not be the right number, but it’s a place to start.
Is there a problem?
One of the basic questions task force members considered throughout the process — and an issue they heard again and again from the public — is whether an urban deer problem exists in Helena.
The group’s answer: Yes. And it’s only going to get worse.
“The (human) population that we see is going to grow, and the deer population is going to grow,” Task Force Co-Chair Virginia Niccolucci said. “We would have nothing other than more human-deer conflicts, unless we do something now.”
Habeck agreed.
“Using professional judgment and conservative estimates … we’re on the footslope of (an exponential) growth in urban deer population,” he said.
If city and FWP commissioners can’t agree on a plan for even one year, the problem grows, he said.
“The key thing to know is, even in a best-case scenario, we’re going to be losing time and … it’s just going to get worse,” Habeck said.
In 2003, the Police Department received 103 complaints about deer, most of them calls about dead animals. The department received 16 reports of deer-vehicle collisions. Last year, dispatchers fielded 241 calls, with 30 reported collisions. FWP received 73 calls in 2004 and 162 calls last year.
Source: http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/03/30/helena/000deer.txt
Thursday, March 29, 2007
OHIO NEWS: Airport Deer Not Content With Runway Havoc
DAYTON, Ohio -- A bizarre incident at Dayton International Airport involved several deer.
Authorities said the animals started throwing themselves at hotel windows, causing several of the windows to break.
Officials said a glass door was also broken where one deer briefly got into the building before running back outside. Minutes later, the herd of four or five deer ran across the airport access road. Authorities said despite the chaos, no one was injured.
source: http://www.whiotv.com/news/11435336/detail.html
Authorities said the animals started throwing themselves at hotel windows, causing several of the windows to break.
Officials said a glass door was also broken where one deer briefly got into the building before running back outside. Minutes later, the herd of four or five deer ran across the airport access road. Authorities said despite the chaos, no one was injured.
source: http://www.whiotv.com/news/11435336/detail.html
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