How effective are deer sterilization programs compared to hunting?
QUESTION: Parts of a town near me are being overrun with deer, and some folks want to allow bowhunting. Opponents say that’s cruel and that we should just sterilize the does. What can I tell folks to convince them sterilizing is a bad idea? — Curtis F.
ANSWER: First you could tell them to look at the research. Several studies have been conducted using immunocontraception to sterilize female deer, making them unable to produce young. For the most part, they’ve failed, and for several reasons:
1) Contraception keeps deer from reproducing, but doesn’t remove any from the existing population, which means it doesn’t immediately solve the current problem.
2) In order to work at all, you must immunize all deer. Otherwise, those not immunized will simply continue to bear young and the population will continue to grow.
3) Even if you were able to immunize all deer, which is highly unlikely, the results will only be short-term at best as untreated deer will move into the area over time.
4) The process of immunizing deer is very expensive and labor intensive, and that cost must be born by local citizens. Meanwhile, there is no cost associated with allowing hunters to do the job, and hunters do a much better job of solving the problem.
— Recent Ask the Biologist Question:Numbers Game: So how exactly do states determine how many permits to issue every year?
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