Letter: Deer invading East End
New Yorkers have a slightly better chance of hitting a deer than the average U.S. driver, according to statistics released Monday by State Farm Insurance Co. Pictured is a deer on Fire Island on Aug. 27, 2014. Credit: Jessica Rotkiewicz
So Southampton is ordering all female deer to report to Town Hall for contraceptives ["New ideas to thin herd as deer population rises," Editorial, Sept. 25]!
It's amazing what people who have never left pavement in their lives can come up with. We were all told last year what the amazing sharpshooters would accomplish. Well I guess other than running up expenses, not much.
Half of the 192 deer probably died from laughter. If one drives around the North Fork now, it looks like the old movies depicting POW camps with all these 6-foot fences. State government is no help, since our brave representatives are terrified of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
It's only a matter of time before there is a terrible accident. Perhaps when people start suing for damages and loss of life, we might see something sensible done.
Jack Lacey, Southold
I read about the efforts to protect humans from the diseases deer carry and the financial and physical damage they cause through auto accidents. They also cause property damage by invading gardens and attacking plantings in yards.
East Hampton's solution, sterilization, is a good start. The Southampton proposal seems little more than a Band-Aid.
There was a more permanent solution suggested in a letter to the editor ["Raise deer on ranches for meat," Sept. 15]. The writer proposed rounding up the deer and auctioning them off to ranchers to be raised for venison, much like raising cattle for beef. This would introduce a whole new industry, create jobs and end the damages and diseases the deer share with us.
Other countries raise deer, why not us?
Leslie King, Bellport
