All this fuss over a few deer. The City of Parksville is going to study the issues, mostly by counting the deer we have in our community — not to mention the geese and other critters — and then ... well, that remains to be seen.
Even if Parksville has an over-abundance of deer, it’s highly unlikely anything will be done about it — directly.
The city will probably ban the feeding of deer, but that’s not easily enforced. How does city hall enforce the picking up of apples or the fencing off of tomato plants? Do they chase deer over people’s fences and wave their arms in a futile attempt to shoo them away from food sources?
I’d like to see that. It would make for some great pictures.
The root of the issue — all those wascally deer — is people, of course. It can’t be denied. They go after the food we grow, the fruit we let drop to the ground and buckets of feed we leave out for them ‘cause we think they’re cute.
Our appreciation for Bambi’s mom and pop, however, is what’s causing so much trouble.
They walk the streets with impunity simply because we won’t tackle them (although they seem tame enough to let us — not that I’d recommend that: think ticks) and because we’d rather have them around than their predators — cougars, wolves and bears.
Thanks to us, deer are free to do as they please. And for the longest time, no cared about that. Few people still do. We see deer — they see us — and we both go about our business.
Because of a few petty complainers who are seemingly pestered by quiet, shy animals, the city now must respond about the so-called deer problem. It’s a waste of time and money. If we get over our anthropomorphizing tendencies, perhaps we can let nature take care of the deer.