Posted on 11/15/2002 3:36:34 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Rarely has a single sentence summarized the folly of a public policy as clearly as the one that appeared in The New York Times on Tuesday: "In Connecticut, the number of drivers who reported hitting a deer rose 297 percent in five years." But the statement, based on statistics from state police from 1995-2000, highlighted only one of the unintended consequences arising from the deification of deer and the demonization of hunters.
Not only are deer making motoring dangerous, they're profoundly changing the landscape from Connecticut to the Rockies to the South by stripping away vegetation, thereby eliminating niches for other wildlife. "I don't want to paint deer as Eastern devils," said Dr. William J. McShea, a biologist associated with the National Zoo in Washington, "but this is indicative of what happens when an ecosystem is out of whack."
And why is the ecosystem out of whack? Animal-rights activists blame sprawl. They're half right, if only by identifying the human origin of this problem.
Long ago, animal lovers looked into the eyes of deer and saw Bambi, so they created, through agitation and legislation, a world in which deer may procreate at will, without the natural balance provided by predators and to a lesser extent hunters. As a result, the deer population exploded, much to the detriment of man and nature.
Each year, more than 1 million deer are hit by vehicles, causing more than $1 billion in damage and killing more than 100 people, making deer more deadly to people than sharks, alligators, rattlesnakes and bears combined. Foraging deer cause more than $1 billion in farm, garden and timber damage annually while spreading Lyme disease and chronic wasting disease.
Desperate wildlife-control agencies recently turned to hunters for help, thereby stumbling into another unintended consequence. As it is, hunters can only do so much, but since guns and hunting have been systemically disparaged in this country for many years, there are significantly fewer hunters today than 20 years ago, and most of them shy away from herd-culling campaigns because of protests from animal-rights groups. Other tactics, such as trapping, repellents, deportation, "birth-control darts" and sterilization, likewise have been ineffective.
That has led some to encourage the reintroduction of natural predators, which in this case is the mountain lion. Migrating east from the Rockies, mountain lions already are chasing their favorite meal in Missouri and Michigan, and are expected to arrive in New Jersey within a few years.
Whether the situation will become even more dire, as experts predict, remains to be seen. But this much is clear: Animal-rights activists have imperiled the lives of people through accidents and disease, and have made it possible for a voracious herbivore to tip the balance of nature — all because they didn't want to see Bambi suffer.
After all, they are edible.
Black bears on the other hand are much smaller and more timid. Most of the problems with them occur when people carelessly leave food or other scented things in their tents, cars, backpacks, etc. There have been very few deaths by black bears and none in Yosemite National Park (the only death by an animal in the park was a small child who was gored by a deer).
Apparently, the mother put a child on the "tame" deer to take a photograph. Oooops.
Another of Disney's gift...
Pretty much the same thing. Deer are sometimes termed "Rats with antlers", so I guess 'Roos would be "Rats with pounches", not to be confused with Kangaroo Rats. (BTW that's the Rodent type rat, not the DemonRat, although there are certain similarities....)
(sniff!) If gun control will save just one life, won't it all be worth it?! (/sarcasm)
I had heard that the idea of bringing mountain lions to NJ was in the works. Right now we've got a ban on bambi hunting, we're looking at a possible ban on teddy-bear hunting, and you can believe that nobody's going to be allowed to touch the kitty-cats. Maybe in some places the ecosystem can be played with in the manner they're speaking of (introducing natural predators) but NJ is far too populous an area for this.
Samuri Whitetail!
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can, and will. . .
Not a problem exactly, but cars have bagged about half a dozen so far this winter up on the road within 2 miles of my house. Typical year.
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