Re: Cull vs. Contraception (of Deer) - CT (Republican American/Opinion)

[Guest guest]

i'm opposed to killing the deer. birth control shots for females and altering

males after being tranquilized sounds like a better option to me.

we are building into their habitat, so what the heck are they supposed to do.

we humans arte breeding and building at a fast pace. that's why the deer are

coming around us. these idiots who want to go on a killing spree of these

innocent animals is just not right. yeah, deer spread lyme but every living

animal spreads some kind of funky illness just as human beings do. i have

bartonella too and a whole host of other infections. I don't know what other

animals or humans gave them to me. killing is not a solution.

chelsea

MassLyme@... wrote:

_http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2008/01/05/opinion/308739.txt_

(http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2008/01/05/opinion/308739.txt)

Cull vs. contraception

Advocates of widespread culling of deer in Connecticut say their approach

would mean less Lyme disease. Deer do contribute to the spread of Lyme by

carrying and sustaining the ticks that transmit the disease to humans and pets,

though the major carriers apparently are rodents.

Lyme disease is cured easily when detected early but has potential to become

debilitating if left untreated. Connecticut really won't get the measure of

deer's involvement in this mini-plague — with 1,788 cases statewide last year

— until it culls the state's herd, estimated at 150,000.

Lyme is just one motivator for intensive culling. Overpopulation exacts a

high penalty in terms of car-deer crashes: Nationally, insurance companies pay

more than $1 billion a year in claims for accidents involving deer and other

large animals. Deer also cause property damage by feeding on shrubs and

crops, and they destroy habitat for many forest animals, including some species

of

birds and their prey.

Neurologist Georgina Scholl of Redding, a founder of the Connecticut

Coalition to Eradicate Lyme Disease, says " returning deer numbers of natural

levels

of 10 or fewer deer per square mile " would eradicate the illness. Today,

there are as many as 20 deer per square mile in Litchfield County, and as many

as

60 in Fairfield County.

Ideally, culling to optimal population levels could be accomplished over a

few years by means of contraception. But there is no effective means of

imposing birth control on large, fast, elusive wild animals. Those inclined to

oppose blunter methods, including intensive hunting in infested areas, should

keep in mind that we are stewards of the forests that are being damaged by deer

and, furthermore, we have an obligation to take reasonable steps to protect

ourselves and our neighbors from car crashes, property damage and disease.