Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Evidently intended as a topic for adults, Bambi became popular with children, especially after its
translation into English in 1928. Then Walt Disney, taking considerable liberties with the original tale,
made Bambi into an immensely popular feature-length cartoon of monumentally anthropomorphic pro-
portions. In his hands, wild creatures precisely fitted the description that I used to see on bumper stick-
ers: “Animals are just little people in fur coats.” The results of this are all too evident to this day, for in
a recent Internet visit to the movie version of Bambi, I found an attached review by a sixteen-year-old
boy who said that the movie teaches us how destructive hunting is.
To return to the problem of restricted areas, be they suburbs, islands, or special reserves, the subject
of whitetail overpopulation and the control thereof is often highly contentious because of the Bambi
Syndrome. Many inhabitants of these areas simply can't bear the thought of a deer being killed by
humans—thereby ignoring the unpleasant facts of death by malnutrition, parasites, disease, and other
forms of mortality that especially afflict overpopulated deer.
In such areas, the issue of deer control often pits neighbor against neighbor in rancorous disputes and
strains the bonds of friendship to the breaking point. As gardens are ruined, expensive shrubbery con-
sumed, and landscaping devastated by a hungry horde of deer, angry homeowners often liken them to
outsized rats! The steady rise of expensive collisions between deer and automobiles further exacerbates
the situation, and as Lyme disease (transmitted to humans by deer ticks) increases, excess numbers of
whitetails become a health concern as well.
Eventually in such situations, pressure increases dramatically for control of the deer by those who
are fed up with the problem. At that point other residents rush to defend the deer, and what has at heart
been a biological problem now becomes a very sticky sociological one, with angry people on both sides
of the issue.
Other than letting starvation and disease decimate the deer, there are really only three methods of
dealing with whitetail overpopulation in limited areas: carefully regulated public hunting; hiring pro-
fessional marksmen; and trapping live deer and transporting them elsewhere (a number of attempts at
trapping or tranquilizing deer and sterilizing them with various hormones have proved both impractical
and unsuccessful—besides costing about one thousand dollars per animal).
Killing deer as a population-control measure is almost sure to raise a ruckus in suburb, island, park,
or reserve. As a result, people living in or near these locales, often well off financially, frequently
choose the “trap and transfer” method. Ironically, this technique is apt to prove far more traumatic and
cruel to the deer than shooting a portion of the population.
Many studies have been carried out to determine just what happens to deer that have been trapped
and transported to new quarters, far from their original range. The results have been dismal, to say the
least. First, about 20 percent of these deer initially perish just from trauma, although they may not die
for several days after their release, thereby giving the impression that the operation was a great success.
Beyond that, these deer are now strangers in totally unfamiliar surroundings which already contain
as many whitetails as the land can support. Car collisions, disease, and predation—human and other-
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