What to Do about Deer
Deer bedded down alongside a driveway in Franklin Park
In 1991, a Washington Post feature story described Franklin Park as a bucolic retreat, with possum, rabbits and red foxes scurrying about under “canopies of shade.” No mention was made of deer. Today, the canopies are tattered and deer are plentiful. The animals delight some and dismay others, though many probably feel a mixture of emotions. Deer populations are surging throughout the country. Deer are what scientists call “synanthropes”—wild animals that have learned to thrive where humans live. (Think pigeons, mice, and raccoons.)
A recent New Yorker story reported that Staten Island’s deer population ballooned from an estimated 24 in 2008 to more than 2,000 in 2017. Local control efforts are proliferating, often spurred by deer-related auto accidents. But there are other problems. Deer denude gardens and feed on native plants, clearing the way for invasives and depriving insects and birds of sustenance. Saplings needed to replenish woodlands also fall victim to the deer. And the animals bring tick-borne illnesses such as Lyme Disease (more than 100 cases are confirmed annually in Fairfax County).
Whitetail buck in Franklin Park
According to a report prepared for Arlington County, ecologists believe that a deer population of 5 to 15 per square mile is sustainable in suburbia. That suggests that Franklin Park, at about half a square mile, should be able to sustain 2.5 to 7.5 of the creatures. How many are here? Nobody knows, but it’s common to see that many in one grouping.
Science has yet to yield an easy method of population control. Sterilization can be effective but it’s costly. The City of New York has paid more than $3,000 each to sterilize bucks in Staten Island. And migratory deer are always joining treated populations—there are some 30 million deer trotting about the country. Contraceptive injections are expensive (the deer must be captured) and need to be repeated every year or two. In any case, Virginia’s state government has not approved the drugs for general use.
In Fairfax County, the Deer Management Program conducts archery culls on public lands; private landowners are permitted to invite bowhunters onto their property. It’s a fraught subject. Franklin Park’s two-footed inhabitants must keep cool heads in figuring out how to deal with its four-footed ones.
Urban deer family in Franklin Park