I've Got to Weigh in on This Deer Issue

Editor's note: will be reviewing an ordinance to make it illegal to feed deer in city limits.

First of all call me a tree hugger but I like the deer. I have been watching this debate for about six weeks. I am new to Avon Lake, I just moved here in September. I quickly caught on that from dusk to dawn I have to be extra careful driving around here.

One particular day around five o'clock in the afternoon I had to stop for a family of four deer. They were crossing Walker Road heading south. As always one pops out and you have to wait because if there is one there probably are more to come. What I got to witness for the first time in my life was the deer actually leaping through the field. It was a spectacular sight!

I have been selling real estate for 27 years. In all those years I have heard many times a seller of a house tell a buyer that they get deer in the back yard as a selling point. This has always been thought of as a positive selling point!

I might feel differently if my car was damaged by one of those deer popping out in front of me. I can't imagine what it must be like to be bullied by a group of deer either. The ones in my backyard don't eat my shrubs or flowers. They leave me alone and I leave them alone. They are very healthy looking to me so I don't agree with whomever called them disease infested.

I am one of those people who bought a new home and pushed them out of their space. just doesn't seem right to me. I understand that we need to do something about the poplulation. It is probably going to get even bigger because of the mild winter we've had. Can't we come up with something more clever? I read about birth control for them but I think that is just kind of creepy but more humane. I wrote to the National Wildlife Federation but they did not give me an answer.

After doing some research it seems the best answer is still culling them. The cheapest method is hunting or using a sharp shooter. I understand they are working on non-lethal methods of sterialization of male deer. I don't like this idea but I understand that with an overpopulation of deer they will drive out the other wildlife. Since I am a bit of a tree hugger I have to side with the other wildlife that they are driving out. We also have to that they are destroying.

All I can say is I still like seeing them and please don't take out the albino ones. I think they are pretty cool!