Deer are in fact, a problem
Wildlife ecologist Laura Simon presents contorted arguments to sidestep what she knows is true of nature: Harmonious ecology results when balance between prey and predator species is maintained. While wolves and mountain lions once exerted a minor control on deer, their primary predators were native American hunter-gatherers. If we are today unwilling to re-introduce top predator species to our communities, then their role falls to humans, whether via sport hunting or organized culls. Sterilization/fertility management are offered by the sentimentally inclined to anthropomorphize certain species and avoid the natural prey-predator dynamic. As James Sterba, author of the acclaimed book “Nature Wars” has written, especially to those bewitched by whitetails: “If we want to protect deer, we need to shoot a few.”
In other publications, Ms. Simon blames humans for “enticing” deer and espouses “preventative” gardening. Are we to surrender control of our property to these adaptable creatures which have evolved into a sort of free-ranging cattle wandering our communities? Since there are no “deer resistant” fruits and vegetables, and since no sapling remains unmolested by these beasts, must we who value our lots for their productivity as kitchen gardens and home orchards wall off our land, fortress-like against herds of trampling hooves, voracious maws and fecal-strewn wakes? Must we build a kind of “bizzaro-world” zoo in which humans live behind fences while unchecked animals roam our neighborhoods?
Ms. Simon inadvertently and obliquely makes a point that deer are a regional problem – especially in the suburban communities contiguous to Mt. Lebanon, but also throughout much of Allegheny County. This regional problem demands the coordinated action of our fragmented municipal governments to remove the superabundant deer population, for the good of the region’s ecology, as well as to benefit area food banks with high quality protein for those dependent upon them.
Chris Durkin
Castle Shannon