Meeting Wednesday to Discuss Managing the Deer Population in Mayo

The Anne Arundel County Department of Recreation and Parks (AADRP) will be hosting a public meeting at 6:45 p.m. on Sept. 14 (Wednesday) at Mayo Elementary School to discuss the topic of white-tailed deer management in Beverley Beach/Triton Beach area.

Recreation and Parks, as stewards of over 15,000 acres of parks, is a major provider of deer habitat in Anne Arundel County.  Dense deer populations can harm native plans and affect biological diversity.  The environmental damage can go unnoticed because it happens gradually over time.

The public has spent millions of dollars to buy and manage parklands and protected forests.

In addition, an overpopulation of deer can increase the risk for car vs. deer collisions, cause damage to agricultural crops and ruin residential and commercial landscaping. White-tailed deer are also implicated in the spread of Lyme disease and can carry other diseases that affect people, livestock or other wildlife species.

In other Maryland jurisdictions (Montgomery and Howard counties for example), park agencies have found it necessary to cull deer populations when there is an overabundance.

In 2008, the Anne Arundel County Executive signed a law enabling the discharge of firearms on Anne Arundel County park property in order to manage wildlife populations.

Recreation and Parks views population management as a tool that can be used to reduce deer overpopulation. Research continues on other management alternatives, but population reduction is, at this time, the only viable means of preventing or eliminating ecological damage caused by overabundant deer.