Sha’Juan Kennedy

Environmental Science

9/23/2012

　

           Deer biological community has become over populated over the past few years. Biological community is simply a group of organism living in the same habitat, which for deer are pine tree plantations, swamps, woodlot and ridges, and plains. The problem with the location of deer habitat is being too close to human environment. Though deer seem to be gorgeous creatures they cause serious issues to humans. Many people are killed each year due to deer, as the deer population increase the death toll of people will increase as well. The economy should take immediate actions to control the overpopulation of deer.

         The deer populations in some states have gotten fairly large. According to Nature Tourism the deer population in Pennsylvania has reached 60 to 100 per square mile, in only five years it increased from 1.2 million to 1.6 million("Nature Tourism"). Also in southern Maine the deer habitat is 4 times what it can support with more than 100 deer per square feet as well(Mere 2). There aren’t too many animals that can eat a deer, the few that do, aren’t commonly seen in the US. Deer predators are wolves, eastern cougars, black bears, coyotes. According to Sea Coast Online, wolves were killed by settlers or went to Canada, eastern cougars were destroyed because of fear, black bears are around in some area but could never manage the deer population, and coyotes have moved eastward (Mere 1-2). With the lack of deer predators around the problem must be handled by the people.

        Biologist came up with a few ideas to control the deer population in Southern Maine with some being an epic fail. Ideas such as trucking deer to less populated areas, netting deer, and putting chemicals in the deer food was all dismissed(Mere 1-2). These ideas were not put into action because of the danger and health risk it would cause the deer and to other animals if they ate the food with chemicals. The more successful ideas were to allow hunters access to more overpopulated locations and to hire sharpshooters for areas with extreme cases of overpopulation(Mere 1-2). Allowing hunters and sharpshooters in overpopulated areas are great methods of controlling deer population that should be expressed to other states if it hasn’t already.

         Deer can be interesting to look at but they are a tremendous threat to people and the environment. “Deer eat a variety of vegetation, including shoots of tree branches and seedlings, as well as farm crops, leading to the destruction of under story plant life, their own habitat, and the habitat of other organisms”("Nature Tourism")Deer are destroying the forest and the potential chance of re-growth.("Nature Tourism")Deer can affect our forest and people in many ways. Deer often carry Lyme disease ticks that can cause people to experience heart, joint, and brain problems. When deer are near people they are a huge threat. People don’t need to be in the forest to get close to deer because they cross roads people drive on. Drivers don’t only have to worry about getting into a crash with another vehicle but they have to worry about deer as well. Vehicle-deer accidents are the cause of over 140 human death according to National Highway Traffic (Sloan 1-3).State farm insurance estimated in 2010 there were over 1.1 million deer-vehicle accidents nationwide (Sloan 1-3). Not only are deer-vehicle accidents dangerous but they are very costly. In 2010 an average of $3.8 billon went out to insurance payouts and driver cost (Sloan 1-3). There is nothing to stop deer from crossing the roads they are very dangerous creatures that can kill an innocent person.

        In conclusion deer biological community population needs to be controlled. With more deer around vehicle-deer accidents, human Lyme disease, and deer-caused death will all increase. The deer should be killed instead of them killing people. Hunters and sharpshooters should be allowed or paid to hunt in every over populated location. Deer overpopulation is a very serious issue that needs to be taken care of before they take over the human population.



　

    
　

　

                                                                 Citation

"Deer Overpopulation." Nature Tourism. Center for Economic & Environmental Development, n.d. Web. 23 Sep 2012. <http://naturetourism.allegheny.edu/contact.html>.

Mere, R.J. "Deer Overpopulation is a Serious Problem." Sea Coast online. (2008): 2. Web. http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20081023-SPORTS-810230378.

Sloan, . "Dear Overpopulation Taking Economic Toll." Washington Post. 01 11 2010: 1-3. Web. 23 Sep. 2012. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/11/01/AR2010110107194.html>.