Monday, June 30, 2008

Send the Jersey Deer to Alaska

With some amusement I recently read an article about folks in New Jersey protesting the hunting of excessive suburban deer populations. Having been a former Jersey girl myself, I have witnessed first hand how the deer populations just seemed to explode in the past 15 years and with them the disturbing increase in deer ticks and Lyme disease. Where once any hoofed creature would have been a rare sight, roving gangs of suburban deer wander the streets in Northern New Jersey.
I can sympathize with the protesters point of view--after all, the deer can be considered a success, considering that there is no such thing as wild habitat left in Northern New Jersey. And lets face it-- hunting is just not something that happens out there, nor is anyone comfortable with the concept. Of course these quasi-wild deer could best be managed with their own natural "wild managers"--coyotes and wolves. But even the Jersey bunny huggers probably draw the line at wolf hugging. It seems everyone back East is convinced that a coyote will simply eat their baby, right off their suburban porch.
Meanwhile, here in Alaska, all the hunters bitch and moan that there are never enough ungulates (moose, caribou) to hunt and chase. Thus the wolves and bears are always blamed as unfavorable competition, and "predator managed" to boost the hoofed critter populations.
I don't want those nasty deer ticks , but maybe the Alaska hunters would appreciate a giant jumbo jet filled with Jersey deer dropped and parachuted over interior Alaska. Should be plenty to go around--for the hunters plate as well as the neighborhood wolves. In exchange we could send some wolves back East- to help those guys out naturally as well.
Somehow, I don't think my wildlife management ideas will roll with anyone, but it's a shame that humans are so short-sighted that animal populations always seem to be at the mercy of local politics, and not the natural ecology....

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