POV
foresters- North Harford H.S
10/22/2012
Oh Deer!!!!!
We are the Department of Natural Resources (DNR),
making an effort to control and
regulate all natural resources. We recognize that
the health of our society and our
economy are dependent on the health of our
environment. Therefore, we choose to act
both collectively and individually to preserve,
protect, restore, and enhance our
environment for this and future generations. The
over population of deer is causing real
concern in the development of land and the area
available for them to live and share with
other species. It is our job to regulate the
animals and keep the well-being of society in
mind also.
Increasing the tag number of killed animals each
year during hunting season is one way to
decrease the over growing population. There are more
does than bucks in terms of deer
per square mile. Decreasing the amount of does in
an area is another way to slow the
growth rate of the deer population each year. "There
are only two real options for slowing
the growth of local deer populations: decrease the
birth rate or increase the death rate."
http://www.txtwriter.com/onscience/articles/deerpops.html
. Decreasing the birth rate is
the most ethical approach. However, deer birth
control has been proven impractical. In this
case killing more deer may be brutal but it is
really the only option when trying to decrease
the birth rate.
Using deer containment is another way to regulate
the damage to the environment. By
building barriers (fences tall enough to contain the
deer) we are able to allow an area of
land to grow and restore itself while the deer live
off of another location. An example of
this method is how farmers use crop rotation while
farming. One year they will farm one
section of land and the next year let the previous
farmed section restore itself while
farming a different section. This is the same
method that can be used with deer each year
to avoid extensive damage to the environment.
The final most costly approach to regulating the
deer population would be to give a shot it
all the deer in an area, causing their sex drive to
decrease. This would be like a symptom
of menopause for people. Less intercourse means
less babies, in turn means less population
growth. Although the shot is the most human of the
three approaches it would cost an
average of $1000 per dear with no guarantee of it
working. With the economy in the state
it is, it would be a dramatic attempt.
Regulation is the key to a healthy environment for
society and the deer. By decreasing the
population of deer we will be able to have a
manageable amount and it will decrease
damage to the surrounding environment
Join the Thoughtful Discussion
