Deer Birth-Control

[Jeff in SC]

Here is a link to a local paper that is trying "birth control" on a local deer herd.* The local tree huggers are at it again! :angry:

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[Jeff in SC]

I apparently did not do the link correct so here is the article!

Crowd control
Program hopes to curb deer reproduction
Published Thu, Jan 6, 2005
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Liz Rigg/Gazette
A whitetail buck and doe graze with the rest of the herd on the Ocean Creek Golf Course on Fripp Island on Tuesday afternoon.
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By GREG HAMBRICK
Gazette staff writer
Fripp Island property owners hope that a birth control drug will contain a growing deer herd and save the group from having to kill them.
The $170,000 program led by the U.S. Humane Society is expected to use an immunocontraceptive on female deer to curtail pregnancy among an island herd that has grown to 450 animals due to a wealth of food and a dearth of predators, said Bob Hess, chairman of the island's deer committee.

The Humane Society was brought in to find a nonlethal way to stabilize the herd, said Carol Patty, a member of the deer committee.

"The main concern is the deer themselves will become malnourished," she said. "With the growing population, there isn't the space that we once had for our deer."

Deer collisions aren't common, Patty said, but the deer have a habit of approaching tourists and homeowners for food and eating yard plants -- even those planted to turn away deer.

Several Beaufort County communities do thin herds through hunting with some even donating the meat to food banks.

The communities have avoided contraceptive measures in the past, citing excessive cost and logistic challenges.

But advances in extending the drugs' effectiveness and streamlining the injection process has encouraged more communities to pursue nonviolent options for controlling deer populations, said Rick Naugle, research assistant with the Humane Society.

"People just don't want deer hunted or killed in their back yard," he said.

Sea Pines on Hilton Head recently announced it would not be culling deer this year.

Three years of culling have brought the 5,000-acre community's deer population to a manageable 300 to 400 deer, said Ward Kirby, executive director of Community Services Associates, which maintains the gated community's open space.

In 1998, Sea Pines had used limited immunocontraception but found several problems with the program, Kirby said.

The drug required two injections within two months each year, using about 25 man-hours per doe, he said.

"It was time-consuming and extremely expensive," Kirby said.

The new, stronger drugs, already used in a few Northeastern communities, should last at least three years, said Allen Rutberg, project manager and an assistant professor at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

The more contained environment on Fripp should facilitate more research on their effectiveness, Rutberg said.

"One advantage to working (on Fripp) is the deer are easy to find," he said.

The Fripp project follows nearly four years of planning by the Fripp Island Property Owners Association and will include $40,000 donated by island homeowners, Hess said.

Expectations are that the Humane Society will pay for the remainder of the project, he said, but residents have indicated they're prepared to donate more if necessary.

As many as 80 deer could be treated with the immunocontraceptive in the first year and will be studied to see how long the drug works, Rutberg said.

The program is expected to last at least three to five years, he said.

"If it goes well, it could go longer than that," Rutberg said.

Contact Greg Hambrick at 986-5548 or To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts..

[Gator]

This has been tried several times and failed each time. Another example of the humane society flawed attempt. Something like when they tried to rescue the deer from Florida everglades. Spent a ton of money, finally trapped several but all died.

[grandpawrichard]

The local PETA members around here have gone to the extreme of outfitting the deer with new garb to protect them.................

[dbowers]

GPR, don't give'em any ideas...lol

[TXD]

bad thing is, that or something similar has already been tried. awhile back i dont recall which state, activists outfitted as many deer as they could (close to 400 i think) with something of blaze orange. the hunters replies in the article was a thanks it makes the deer easier to see. you could see 'em commin a mile away. just to top it off a local sporting goods shop or processor was paying $10 for each blaze orange vest from harvested game.