By Scott D. Johnston
Scott Harris, a wildlife biologist who has spent more than a dozen years working out of the Montesano office of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), knows that many people in Ocean Shores love the deer. And he knows the affection and enjoyment many feel has created an unnatural habitat that is ultimately bad for both deer and people, many of whom see them as some sort of wild pets.
Harris spoke to a full meeting room at the Ocean Shores Public Library on June 17, his talk presented by the WSU Master Gardeners of Grays Harbor and Pacific Counties. He said widespread feeding of the deer, combined with a ban on hunting them, has encouraged overpopulation and resulted in a concentration that helps spread disease within the deer population and increases the opportunities for collisions with cars.
“It’s all about food,” he said, and unfortunately, the complex nutritional systems of deer means humans’ kind intentions can sometimes prove deadly, because deer adapt slowly to seasonal changes in diet. Harris cited the most popular food offered by humans to deer, apples, as an example:
“A deer eating a few apples out of an apple tree, especially in the fall when they’re really trying to gain weight, it’s no big deal to a deer; its micro flora in its stomach is already adjusted to that. You take a deer that is overwintering someplace, that isn’t eating apples, then you drop a bucket load of apples out for that deer, it’s probably going to die, because the micro flora in its stomach is not in sync…”
Behavior related to food also results in mortality. Harris has dealt with literally hundreds of dead deer and said being hit by cars is the “biggest source of mortality out there” for deer in and around Ocean Shores, and when a deer it hit by a motorist, “there’s always somebody feeding nearby.”
Interviewed after his talk, Harris commented that, “One of my biggest pet peeves is having to euthanize wild animals that someone has basically loved to death.”
A wildlife conflict specialist assigned to Grays Harbor and Pacific Counties, Harris said he understands that many consider the deer an attraction in Ocean Shores. And while wildlife is supposed to be wild, in this case “a little bit of habituation is a good thing… (a deer) is still leery of us, but he’ll pose for a picture, he’s not going to take off like a bullet…”
But what comes next, “food conditioning,” creates a series of problems including car collisions, humans and our pets encountering does that are protecting fawns, poor nutrition, increased fertility and overpopulation, ease of spreading disease and parasites, such as ticks carrying Lyme disease, destruction of landscape and decorative plantings, and attracting unwanted wildlife such as rodents, raccoons, coyotes, bears, and perhaps a rare cougar.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we have cougars living in some of these vacant lots because, let’s face it, they don’t have to move. Dinner comes to them,” he said.
“It’s just a matter of time before somebody gets hurt or we have a big die-off,” he worries.”It’s not if, but when, we’re going to have a pretty bad disease outbreak (among deer) in this area.”
The solution, he said, is simply for people to learn to appreciate the deer without feeding them. “I won’t suggest a good food for deer, because it won’t help reduce the population,” he said. “If we stop feeding, it will eventually thin the herd by reducing the pregnancy rate.”
Still, Harris acknowledged that many people like having the deer around. “Planting for deer is actually something we encourage,” he said. The DFW offers information on designing and managing yards for wildlife on their website at www.wdfw.wa.gov/living/.
Other possible approaches include the city banning all feeding of deer (current law bans commercial feed and grain but not all feeding). A petition asking the Ocean Shores City Council to do just that was circulated at the meeting. A controlled hunt is another possibility, but something that seems to generate considerable opposition.
Harris said he would welcome an invitation to speak the Council on the issue, and share information from other towns that have addressed similar situations.
He said Cornell University in Ithica, NY, and The Nature Conservancy have worked together on research that has yielded concepts for “Community-Based Deer Management.”
Their Community Deer Adviser website says “CBDM is a guided process for addressing deer-related problems. It focuses on careful planning, targeted actions, and measuring progress. The process is flexible, helping communities adapt their deer management plan as needs change over time.” More information can be found at at www.deeradvisor.dnr.cornell.edu.
