Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 13, 1995 TAG: 9502140065
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHICAGO TRIBUNE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
As the nation's deer population climbs to record numbers, turning the national landscape into the ultimate salad bar, scientists and local officials find themselves groping for ways to fend off a possible ecological crisis.
The issues become even more complicated in midwinter, the months from late December to early March, when forest preserve districts and municipalities wrestle with the unpopular notion of killing deer in order to maintain a balance of nature.
Without controls, scientists warn that deer - an estimated 21 million of them in the United States - can devour thousands of acres of valuable foliage that provides shelter for hundreds of birds and small animals and serves as the seedbed for future woodlands.
But figuring out how to curb the deer population poses one of the biggest challenges for wildlife managers and elected officials. It is especially difficult in suburban areas where a squeamish public must be convinced of the necessity of killing a portion of the deer herd. In many areas, each winter is marked by battles with animal-rights activists opposed to killing deer.
In DuPage County, Ill., outside Chicago, forest preserve managers recently revised their deer-culling program in the wake of criticism. And in Lake County, Ill., forest preserve officials have had to defend their deer-culling program from activists who have accused district officials of falsifying records.
``We always end up in these public arguments'' over how to control the deer population, said Jay McAninch, a biologist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources who advises municipalities on deer control. ``But people [in a community] need to come together and decide how many deer they can live with and how to mitigate the problems.''
One commonly touted solution is immuno-contraception, which public officials hope will help quell the controversy in warring communities.
Researchers at the Medical College of Ohio, in Toledo, are working on a one-shot dart to ``immunize'' a female deer against pregnancy. To perfect the shot, they are trying to come up with a ``time-release'' dose that will slowly distribute the contraceptive over a period of several weeks, said Dr. John Turner, a reproductive biologist. The vaccine works by causing the doe to produce antibodies that prevent fertilization of the egg and has been used successfully on animals in captivity.
Even after Turner and his colleagues work out the dosage, the contraceptive vaccine still must be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which regulates all drugs in the human food chain, a process that could take another couple of years.
If approval is granted, Turner cautioned that contraception is impractical for use in the wild because perhaps 50 percent or more of the does would have to be darted annually.
``This technique doesn't have application for the general deer population like in the wilds of Wisconsin or Michigan,'' Turner said. ``It is applicable for small parks and preserves.''
Contraception only limits the birth rate, it does not stop it. Areas with large deer overpopulations, he said, may still have to resort to lethal methods.
The deer population is on the rise, biologists say, for a number of reasons. Among them is the lack of natural predators, such as wolves, mountain lions and the like, which have not adapted to living near human beings.
Deer, on the other hand, have taken to suburban life. They thrive by eating landscaping, the seed in backyard bird feeders, farmers' crops as well as the delicate plant species found in wildlife refuges. In remote regions, a decline in hunting is thought to contribute to an increased number of deer.
In counties with deer-culling programs, conservationists say that their forests are now healthier and reflect a greater diversity of animal and plant life because deer numbers are low. In addition, the deer that do remain are healthier because they are not competing with one another for food.
``There's nothing pleasant about euthanizing an animal,'' said Chris Anchor, a biologist with the Cook County Forest Preserve District. ``But it's been proven over and over again for the last 20 years in metropolitan areas throughout North America that deer culling is necessary and it works.''
Difficult as it is for urban communities to support large numbers of deer, it is equally problematic for wild regions where hunting appears to be on the decline.
In remote areas of northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, growing numbers of whitetail deer are thought to be wreaking havoc on millions of acres of national forests where the ancient hemlock and white cedar trees - a favorite deer food - aren't reproducing.
``These are the last remnants of the original forests. If those stands don't reproduce themselves, all the lichens that live on them, the fungi, mosses, invertebrates and insects ... will change,'' said William Alverson, a botanist at the University of Wisconsin who has been studying the northern tracts for the last five years.
by CNB