The Costs Of Killing Deer

To the Editor:

Please do not kill our deer! Killing deer does not reduce their numbers. Remaining deer benefit from enhanced food supply and begin to produce more deer (twins) and begin to reproduce at a younger age (as early as 1 year old).

Lyme disease-carrying ticks are a concern to everyone. Even if all the deer in Fairfield County were eliminated, we would still have Lyme disease. There is no evidence that killing deer is an effective strategy.

If the town proposes to kill deer, is it also prepared to use our limited tax dollars to fund the supervisory efforts our town would demand in order to ensure public safety from the lethal weapons that will be discharged by hunters on both public and private land? We feel that our children, family members, and companion animals will be put at risk.

One evening very late at night I was walking my dog in the yard. A truck pulled up, shot a crossbow and the arrow went right through the deer into my compost pile — right in front of me! Two men in dark clothes jumped out of the truck and grabbed the deer and tossed it into their truck! I could have been killed! I ran to get the license plate number and one of the men jumped out and blocked it and told me to turn around and go back into the house or they could put one right through me just as easily. These two were clearly criminals — but do we want to encourage overzealous hunters, some of whom may have psychopathic tendencies like these two, to come into our community?

Families come to Newtown in part because of its natural beauty. Children grow up playing in our yards and the surrounding wooded areas. It is distressing to drive or walk down Hundred Acres road and see armed hunters dressed in full battle fatigues carrying guns — we would rather see a deer! Not even the best hunters have a 100 percent kill rate on the first shot. If we don’t stop the thoughts of shooting our deer, we may find injured deer staggering around our yards instead! There are other costs to consider. If charity and kindness begin at home, what kind of lesson would we teach by killing nonaggressive animals as our first reaction to a complex problem on the basis of little or no evidence that it will help?

Residents are understandably distressed over damage to their gardens — however there is a perfect solution that I have been using for many years. Malorganite, a natural fertilizer can be sprinkled on plants several times during the growing season. It will keep deer from eating even their favorite things like hostas and tulips! People stop every year and wonder how I can have so many tulips growing — an elderly man told me this years ago and it is foolproof!

Ann Ziluck

Aunt Park Lane, Newtown                                       December 8, 2008