Should the State's ban on feeding deer be lifted in the Park?
YES
By Betty Little
Last year, citing the potential threat of chronic
wasting disease (CWD), the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation adopted an emergency regulation banning the feeding
of wild white-tailed deer with very limited exceptions. Several
temporary emergency regulations followed, along with public hearings
and a public comment period. To my disappointment, the DEC adopted
a permanent regulation banning deer feeding this past July.
While I share the DEC’s concern regarding the disease, I continue
to contend that an opportunity to address this issue in a more reasonable
and humane way is being missed. I am very concerned that this one-size-fits-all
policy overlooks critical local considerations and fails to address
the potentially devastating short- and long-term effects on deer
herds in the Adirondacks, where, compared to the rest of the state,
the deer population is much less dense, natural food resources are
less abundant and winters are longer and more severe.
Maybe the DEC’s deer feeding ban is the appropriate approach
in New York’s Southern Tier, but I have to believe what may
work well in that region has far different implications in the Adirondacks.
DEC acknowledges a lot is yet to be learned about CWD. What
is known is that there is no cure for the disease and it is always
fatal. How the disease is spread is not known, although DEC believes
it most likely is transmitted by muzzle-to-muzzle contact between
animals or indirectly through feces, urine and contact with waste
food.
Most significantly, CWD has not been detected in captive or wild
deer in New York state. Hundreds, if not thousands, of deer
face the very real possibility of starving to death this winter
because of an ill-suited policy that seeks to prevent the spread
of a disease that may not exist anywhere in the state.
A waiver for the Adirondacks, along with guidelines for safe feeding,
perhaps a permit system and more stringent monitoring and testing,
would ensure our deer herds have access to the sustenance they need
to survive the winter while enabling the DEC to react quickly in
the event CWD is detected.
Protecting our deer from this or any other disease is a concern
we all share. Hunters, hunting clubs and the majority of private
landowners I have spoken with feed deer intelligently and with great
care. They have a vested interest in sustaining a healthy deer population,
which is evident in the investment of personal resources they make
year after year. Thanks to their efforts to sustain healthy deer
herds, the Adirondacks benefits economically by attracting sportsmen
to our region. And farmers benefit by selling locally grown corn
and alfalfa for supplemental feeding during the winter months.
Special circumstances require special consideration. Given the lack
of solid evidence regarding how CWD is spread, and the fact that
it has not been detected in New York, I have and will continue to
ask the DEC to work with us towards a better, more practical alternative
for the Adirondacks before winter arrives. In doing so, they would
benefit by taking into account years of North Country deer-feeding
experience, expert advice and priceless insight that I know would
be of enormous value in developing a much more reasonable approach
that protects our deer in a more humane fashion. In the meantime,
while it is not known if banning deer feeding will prevent the introduction
or spread of CWD wasting disease, the loss of many deer to starvation
is certain.
Betty Little is a state senator whose district
includes most of the
Adirondack Park.
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NO
By Mike Storey
I’m against exempting the Adirondacks
from the statewide deer-feeding ban. Chronic wasting disease is
a nasty, transmissible neurological disease that is decimating deer
and elk. It’s similar to mad cow disease in that it is spread
by a simple protein called a prion. It apparently started in Colorado
and has spread to the upper Midwest. Last fall, deer in Minnesota,
Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois were diagnosed with the disease.
So far, we’ve been lucky in that no diseased deer have been
found in New York. The state Department of Environmental Conservation
(DEC) wants to keep it that way, which is why the agency issued
a statewide feeding ban last year. Wildlife management agencies
throughout the Northeast and Midwest support feeding bans because
research has shown that the illness is more likely to spread wherever
deer concentrate or their populations are high.
The Adirondacks has a natural defense against chronic wasting disease.
The deer population is low in density because it is kept in check
by the long, cold winters and deep snows. Although it sounds cruel,
starvation ensures that the population remains in harmony with the
environment. If deer are allowed to concentrate at feeding stations,
however, this may open the door to the disease.
I know there is a long history of hunting clubs and wealthy landowners
feeding deer in the Adirondacks. They did so because they wanted
a larger herd on their lands, thus making it easier to bag a buck
in the fall. Deer that depend on humans for their food supply are
less likely to flee at the sight of a hunter. More recently, people
who just want to observe deer have begun feeding these wild creatures.
A restaurant in Santa Clara has put out food for deer so its customers
can watch them. I can understand if kindhearted souls want to prevent
deer from starving when there is two feet of snow and the temperature
plummets to 20 below. In the long run, however, such kindness only
hurts the deer as they continue to reproduce and outstrip the natural
food supply. It keeps them dependent on human handouts.
This is a very unnatural situation, both for people and deer. Most
folks, including myself, enjoy seeing a wild animal in a natural
setting, whether it is a deer, bear, coyote or otter. My wife and
I just returned from a trip to Alaska’s Denali National Park,
where visitors are forbidden to interfere or interact with wildlife.
We watched grizzlies, caribou and Dall sheep going about their daily
lives undisturbed by humans. It was thrilling to see wildlife in
such a natural state. The Adirondacks are wild, too, and nature
should be left to take its own course. If the deer population is
small here, that’s because of the tough climate and rugged
habitat. This place is much better suited to big, strong, long-legged
moose than it is to deer, and the decades ahead will prove that
this is the case as the moose population expands. Nature knows best.
We fed deer all of this past summer. A little button-buck discovered
our impatiens the day after we planted, and as summer progressed
he wiped out the hostas and phlox, too. Then he discovered the 24
carefully tended tomatoes and two dozen lettuce plants. Our garden
was a disaster and hardly worth the harvest. In hunting season,
though, “Bambi” may discover that human food is not
the best choice and that he is not at the top of the food chain.
Mike Storey is a naturalist who retired recently
from the Adirondack Park Agency’s Visitor Interpretive Center
in Paul Smiths.
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