Nature knows best

What followed the announcement were grim updates on the disease. Just last week a second deer in Meridian tested positive prompting the rallying call for more hunting.

That´s right. To save deer we need to kill them.

But here´s the good news. Nature is dealing with the deer problem, which is the best way. We are overrun with deer, who long ago shed the innocent image of Bambiesque sprites, living on the margins of our neighborhoods. They are pests, harmful to the environment, dangerous carriers of disease. Chronic Wasting Disease may accomplish what Meridian Township is trying, but failing, to do, thin the herd. It has to happen.

The township, working with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, has an elaborate, expensive and, sadly, ineffective plan to deal with its deer problem. Both of them cite damage to the ecosystem, high vehicle-deer crash rates, damage to residential landscaping and gardens.

Meridian has produced a detailed map identifying auto-deer accidents in the township and they happen everywhere, with the highest frequency along Grand River between Dobie and Cornell roads. As for disease, deer are ideal hosts for ticks, the source of Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and other infections. The infestations can be horrific with deer covered by plump, corn kernel-sized ticks engorged on their blood. And they are dropping them in our yards.

“This is a wake-up call. If the disease becomes introduced into a population that is over abundant, it is increasingly difficult to manage and increasingly difficult to control,” said Chad Stewart, a deer management specialist for the Michigan DNR.

The department´s goal is to “manage the deer herd using management practices based on scientific research to

• “Maintain healthy animals and keep the deer population within limits dictated by the carrying capacity of the range.

• “Limit effects on native plant communities, agricultural, horticultural, and silvicultural crops and public safety.”

This sounds good and may work in rural zones, but even animals as dim as deer have figured out that suburban neighborhoods are sanctuaries where they can roam freely and safely. There are dozens of deer in my neighborhood, about a half-mile from Meridian Mall. Last week a 6-point buck grazed through my yard. Earlier this summer a doe left one of her just-born fawns in my backyard; the next-door neighbor got the other one. It was all very cute, very maternal. Now, the fawns recognize the yard as a playground and return often. But they are not quite as cute as they were a month ago and are becoming, like the rest of the neighborhood herd, pests.

Meridian´s plan to reduce the deer population relies on a special bow-hunting season in the township’s more rural areas. It also allows trapping. Hunting is prohibited within 450 feet of a dwelling, which in a community with nearly 40,000 residents means much of the property is off-limits. Also, according to the latest Deer Management Plan, some of the township´s largest landowners have opted out of the herdthinning plan. They include Michigan State University, which owns the 107-acre Dobie Reserve along the Red Cedar River and the College Fields Golf Course. Other golf courses claim that they have their own deer control policies.

But Chronic Wasting disease isn´t encumbered by these limitations. Stewart said it is a horrible way for deer to die, though an arrow through the heart — or anywhere else — isn´t much better.

According to the DNR, Chronic Wasting Disease “is a neurological (brain and nervous system) disease found in deer, elk, and moose, otherwise known as cervids. The disease belongs to a family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) or prion diseases. The disease attacks the brains of infected animals and produces small lesions that result in death. While CWD is similar to mad cow disease in cattle and scrapie in sheep, there is no known relationship between CWD and any other TSE of animals or people.”

It is spread by animal-to-animal contact and is present in the saliva, urine, blood, and feces of infected animals. Also, studies suggest that it can remain indefinitely in certain types of soil.

Absent a radically new approach to deer herd management, CWD should over time reduce the population. Research finds that it has no effect on humans — unless people eat meat from contaminated animals, in which case it acts like Mad Cow Disease.

To date, there is also no evidence that CWD can transmute to other species, which could solve another problem — Canada geese. This is another population in need of some natural controls. As with deer, there are no natural predators to manage their numbers. In my neighborhood both pests live side-by-side, neither bothering with the other. Maybe the answer is Avian Influenza — bird flu. In June, the DNR reported that it detected the disease in free ranging Canada geese in Macomb County. Nature knows best.