whitetail deer
“History is who we are,
why we are,
the way we are.”
historian David McCullough
Our history as a society on this new American continent is filled with complexities, and immensely different perspectives and belief systems that are passionately held.
So too the perspectives held regarding the wildlife we share this land with. The initial views brought over by Europeans regarding wildlife have changed little in 500 years. There are the good ones…the deer, and the bad ones…the carnivores.
But our science has opened another window for us….do we choose to look into it? What our science has shown us is that the deer and the carnivore work together to create healthy ecosystems that we as humans require to live.
Carnivores keep our deer populations at healthy numbers…10 to 20 per square mile depending on the landscape and weather conditions, and the deer sustain our carnivores’ lives.
So here is a scenario taking place in National Park lands in Maryland and Virginia….the Civil War battlefields. At this time there are 230 deer per square mile on these past battlefields, and scientists are sharing that they are destroying the flora and the fauna…the landscape and the other animals who require that landscape to survive.
So what is the proposed plan? Spend 1.8 million dollars to kill 2,800 of those deer in the next five years. After that they plan to use chemical contraception to control the herds.
IS THERE SOMETHING GLARINGLY OUT OF BALANCE WITH NATURE’S PLAN HERE?
WHERE ARE THE CARNIVORES?
So here in Maine, our carnivores play this immensely important role of taking care of our deer herds. It is nature’s way….though we completely understand it or not.
