Between a Buck and a Hard Place
They are the cause of extreme destruction of property, deadly traffic collisions, costly theft, and even jaywalking. This is not the rap sheet of a vicious new gang, but instead a different menace to society. The white-tailed deer, or Odocoileus virginianus has been causing issues in Newark Ohio, and all across the United States for years. With millions of automotive collisions, and billions in damages annually, we need to discuss deer overpopulation and pursue immunocontraception as a solution to this issue. Immunocontraception is humane, cost-effective, innocuous, benign to the public, and preeminently, effective.
Deer overpopulation leads to an abundance of complications. Deer damage the small gardens and lawns of many homeowners and for those living inside the city limits the only feasible response is spraying chemical deterrents, a painstaking process that decreases in
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If the damage to nature is not enough motivation to take action, perhaps the hundreds of deaths, thousands of injuries, millions of crashes, and billions in damages will provide ample motivation to address this problem as soon as possible. It is glaringly evident that hunting is doing little to stop this issue, if anything at all. Instead of taking a literal and metaphorical shot in the dark, we should turn to the scientifically validated method of immunocontraceptive vaccines. They are cheap, very effective, humane, and safe. It would be foolish not to make use of this ideal system. Simply being apathetic and ignoring this serious matter is negligent, as time goes on deer overpopulation will become even more difficult and expensive to solve. Too many deer are the cause of too many problems that have been overlooked for too long. We need to band together, take action, and agree as a community that the buck stops
There are too many deer in the Wesselman Woods. The deer have eaten all the flowers and other flora. There have also been 8 car crashes involving deer, this imposes a dangerous threat to the civilians of Evansville. The deer have been invading people’s yards and eating their gardens. The deer are causing many problems that can’t be solved until the deer population is reduced.
The effects of deforestation around my home and throughout my state are becoming more evident every day. When a deer or other wild game loses its home, they move into cities, urban areas, and parks; thus causing issues with the human population. Most people living in Illinois have hit or nearly killed a deer driving on Southern Illinois roadways. This common occurrence could be kept at bay or maybe even avoided if the deer and wild game had more space to reside. There are many points that coincide with this reality but the main issues are the small subtle ones that affect everyday life and are often overlooked. Picture the Illinois we will leave for our children. Do you see a lush green forest or miles and miles of concrete and steel?
The “Bucks only” laws passed years ago to help in re-establishing the dwindling deer herds now work against the deer by resulting in an overabundance of does. Even with the overabundance of does, many hunters refuse to shoot a doe. They believe in the old saying, “It takes a doe to yield a buck.” This is entirely true, but it ignores the basic law of nature that any piece of land, and the food and cover in it, can support so much game. If the excess game is not harvested by hunters or killed by predators, nature will take over and exterminate enough animals as needed, or more through disease and starvation.
White tailed deer are the largest game animal in North America. This is due to their over abundance and annoyance to farmers. An average of 300000 deer are hunted down each year. A tragedy has been another 3000 are hit by cars every year. Many human efforts have been made to prevent these accidents, such as fencing and deer repellents near freeways, but many seem to think that hunting and controlling the population is the best way.
Human-wildlife conflicts are any problems that occur between humans and wildlife in direct correlation with living in close proximity with one another. For example, since the animals and the humans live so close to one another, a panther would sooner or later, come across a road or highway (Defenders of Wildlife). The panthers are in a dangerous situation of becoming roadkill because their habitats coexist with the development of roads in southern Florida. Just how dangerous is the road for the Florida panther? According to Defenders of Wildlife, twenty-five panthers were killed by vehicles in 2014 alone. More than a quarter of the total population of the panther became roadkill. On the other hand, certain preventative measures are being taken in order to keep the people and the panthers safe. Moreover, slow speed zones and wildlife crossings are being established where panthers live (Defenders of Wildlife). Defenders of Wildlife are also helping by installing a system which they call a Roadside Animal Detection System (RADS). Furthermore, RADS is being observed in US-41 and Big Cypress National Preserve (Defenders of Wildlife). Also, one of the other ways Defenders is trying to help is through the construction of additional wildlife crossing. The additional wildlife crossings work by providing a tunnel that goes underneath the road to provide safe
Endangered animals will never be seen again if citizens don't act now. Specifically the Woodland Caribou of The Great White North. The Woodland Caribou is the most endangered mammal in North America and is becoming more and more every year. Without the help of citizens and organizations from around the continent, this species will be gone forever. The absence of the Woodland Caribou in the Canadian and American ecosystems will cause tremendous effects that won't be good for any ecosystem in North America. In order to save this vital species, habitats need to be protected, illegal hunting of the Woodland Caribou needs to be enforced, and compromises need to be made to make a foundation for the Woodland Caribou.
The current situation today, is that horses and donkeys have exceeded the amount to keep an ecological balance; from 26,600 wildlife to 38,300 wildlife. The horse program enacted by the bill passed in 1971, costs the government approximately $49 million a year. It takes the majority of the budget to manage the already captured horses; taking into account the life of the horses, it has been concluded that the total cost would be closer to $1 billion (Dean Bolstad, Roundup of Wild Horses…). A Federal law, allows the Bureau of Land Management to kill “excess horses to maintain what it calls ‘a thriving natural ecological balance’” (Ginger Kathrens). However, due to retaliation of animal right groups, the BLM has not taken any measures to eliminate
Deer overpopulation is a controversial topic. Some believe that deer overpopulation is not a real problem. Some may also believe the high numbers that studies show, is a scheme to give hunters an excuse to hunt without reason. The truth is that deer overpopulation is a true issue. Deer, especially the eastern whitetail deer population in these modern times, is out of control. “There are an estimated 30 million whitetail deer in the United States today. Under optimal conditions, whitetail deer populations will double every two years”(Rooney). As the numbers of whitetail deer rise, the land for them to live on decreases. This may lead to deer walking on roads and causing accidents.
One solution to the problem is, putting the animals in safe, nice and big sanctuaries for them to roam around in instead, of putting them in "canned hunts." There is a certain sanctuary that is safe, and Kevin Richardson made, it has black leopards, lions, and hyenas. The article
People need to live closer to nature because every time hunting season is open people kill more farm animals than the actual thing they are
The author provides information describing the deer population in parts of New Jersey; yet, he does not include any data regarding the population in the rest of the United States, nor does he include any sources of where this information was obtained. A reader may be more
The best way to control the overpopulation of deer in Alabama is to be an active hunter,
More than ten years after the essay in our textbook, “For Environmental Balance, Pick up a Rifle,” first appeared in the NY Times, the author, Nickolas Kristof, continues to write for the NY Times as a columnist. This long-term relationship with The Gray Lady is quite an achievement for a writer in a tough market of New York readers. The original essay needed aggressive wording to grab attention of readers who peruse the paper while crowded into buses and trains. It is engaging, humorous, and compellingly holds the readers’ attention right through to the end. Kristof is correct in his claim that the solution to the deer over-population lies in thinning out the herds through hunting. Alternate methods of deer population management do not exist in the suburbs. We certainly do not want to restore the natural predators of deer, because humans would be on these predators’ menu, too. Deer food laced with contraceptives has limited effectiveness because deer migrate regularly over an area of up to 25 square miles. Therefore, the deer who ate the contraceptive might not be the deer who winter over in that area and give birth in spring. Once the medicinally-laced food is put out, no guarantee exists that deer would be the only ones to eat it.
With 4.5 million vehicles just passing through the park on the Trans Canada Highway, road mortality was a prominent issue (Evans, 2013). Highways, including those that are fenced, result in fragmentation of wildlife habitat, sensory disturbance, and obstruct wildlife diversity. Species are inherently part of a bigger more complex ecological system and require that
My first reason for being pro-hunting is population control. Hunting is a legitimate and ethical method to stop wildlife populations from overpopulating and inevitably dying off. According to the Department of Natural Resources, “deer/vehicle accidents declined by more than fifty percent as a result of managed hunting programs in sections of Montgomery County, Virginia, and the United States” (Hotton). The anti-hunting group P.E.T.A proposes that there are alternate methods such as sterilization. According to an article by PETA, “if females are captured, marked, and counted, sterilization reduces herd size” (PETA). There are two methods of sterilization that may be used. The first method is surgical sterilization. The way this is done is by removing parts of the reproductive system. The problem is that “this method is extremely costly, ranging up to $1000 per deer” (“Deer Control”). The second method is the “ligation of the oviduct” (“Deer Control”). “This method is effective, but very expensive and puts a lot of stress ...