Humans kill more deer, antelope, raccoons, skunks, porcupines, bobcats and coyotes, among others, than any other cause, including predation, starvation, weather, disease and natural causes including age, accident or developmental defects.Humans aren't 'predation'? Anyway, why does this matter? They were going to die anyway.
I call bullshit. There are lots of animals. So many that we could never hunt enough of them. Have you ever seen a flock of passenger pigeons? They're practically infinite in number.They're not mammals, though.
Second, if controlling the prey population is really that important there would be a greater effort to increase the predator population. Good luck with that.So we shouldn't kill deer, and instead we should introduce wolves and stuff into the woods in order to kill deer to prevent overpopulation? Why not just cut out the middle man?
But Fire Island is the success story: Its 10 percent birth rate contrasts to 35 percent at other Humane Society sites.The article is from 2002. From 2009, we have this:
[snip]
But the Humane Society's labor-intensive method--which costs about $1,000 per doe for the first two years of treatment--may keep it from widespread use. A serum that lasts longer than one rutting season is in the early stages of development; if successful, it could bring down costs.
Biologists and ecologists have studied alternative methods for controlling deer population, like fertility control, but professors at Rutgers University, Pennsylvania State University and Cornell University said controlled hunting remains the most effective way to reduce deer population.posted by rtha at 10:07 AM on April 28, 2011 [5 favorites]
Contraceptives can only be effective in small, fenced-in areas where deer can be controlled, not places like the 3.4-square-mile Reservation, said Larry Katz, director of Rutgers Cooperative Extension. The cost per deer is also higher than using sharpshooters, he said.
“When you’re dealing with free-ranging animals that can move in and out over a large landscape, the only tool available now is hunting,” said Paul D. Curtis, a Cornell professor and extension wildlife specialist.
[snip]
Research like a 10-year study in Pennsylvania published in 2003 found a direct relationship between deer overpopulation and the loss of plant and animal diversity. In forests throughout New Jersey, deer overpopulation has largely diminished the amount of native trees that are one to five years old, Mr. Katz said.
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However, for precisely that reason, hunting should be well regulated, with a game warden and all that so that animals aren't hunted to the point that they're endangered, or worse, extinction.
posted by mccarty.tim at 5:56 AM on April 28, 2011 [23 favorites]