In the Mailbag
Posted December 10, 2018 at 5:43 am by Tim Dustrude
Susan Wingate writes to share this article on deer population control…
Dear SJ Update,
I’m hoping to submit some information about the deer population that has become an issue with a certain sector of our residents and with the fish and wildlife community.
[Please see] this information from the website: http://www.pzpinfo.org/pzp_faqs.html
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One comment...
The research team at Tufts University is having great success with the PZP contraceptive vaccine. I have been in contact with Dr. Allen Rutberg, Director of the Center for Animals and Public Policy at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. He sent me a link about their work, in conjunction with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), to control the deer population in the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY https://www.hastingsgov.org/deer-issues. Hunting is not an adequate management tool for controlling the deer population on San Juan Island, and some islanders may be opposed to the practice or not be comfortable with hunting in neighborhoods where the homes are closer together. Expanding hunting to take does leaves fawns without their mother. While they are past the nursing stage in winter, they do stay with their mom through the first year. If you are interested in reading more about deer contraception, please see the additional links below. I’d like to see an effort to incorporate the use of PZP as an added management tool and believe that the cost could be offset by community members who advocate for a humane and sustainable management policy. Certainly, hunting could still happen on private parcels with landowner permission, but I believe it would be complemented by implementing contraception to control the population. The first link below contains information about Kali Pereira, the young woman working with Dr. Rutberg and I’d like to figure out a way to get her here to help us with our deer!
http://news.vet.tufts.edu/2017/05/kali-pereira/
https://www.livescience.com/46175-birth-control-for-deer.html
https://undark.org/article/birth-control-for-bambi/
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/06/nyregion/providing-birth-control-to-deer-in-an-overrun-village.html
http://www.pzpinfo.org/pzp_faqs.html?fbclid=IwAR1D6vCmb4NVza6vKDPc9e6UXnWjm8KeRfXyIcn6d2sp7YRvAnxa6RrfAgo
http://www.pzpinfo.org/origins.html
https://www.wildlifefertilitycontrol.org/about-botstiber-institute-for-wildlife-fertility-control/staff/
http://news.vet.tufts.edu/2017/05/a-delicate-balance-free-roaming-horses-on-the-island-of-vieques-puerto-rico/
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