The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation says Long Island's deer population is growing.
They can be a sight to behold or a shock to the system depending on where and how you encounter Long Island's growing number of deer.says Long Island's deer population is growing, and with no natural predators in Nassau or Suffolk counties, the increase will continue without intervention.
"We've been concerned about deer overpopulation for quite some time," said Leslie Lupo, a wildlife biologist with the New York State DEC. "They certainly cause crop damage for our farmers. And then folks start noticing as they're creeping into suburban areas that the deer are eating your plantings on your on your private property. They do wind up crossing roads more often." The state DEC says the impacts are real. It cites statistics from State Farm that find more than 70,000 deer-vehicle collisions happen each year in New York. The national average cost of a crash with a deer is $4,000. The State says deer are responsible for, on average, $59 million in damage to crops across New York each year. There are also impacts that include an increased tick population, degrading forest health, and harm to other species that have to compete with deer for food. "Deer have evolved as a prey species, so they have a high reproductive output and we don't have the predators that they evolve with," Lupo said. As a result, the DEC is accepting deer management permit applications through Oct. 1 for Suffolk County. Deer hunting licenses are also now on sale for the upcoming hunting season. Strict hunting restrictions are in place, but critics say the policy is wrong altogether. "Killing is not conservation," said John Di Leonardo, president and executive director of Humane Long Island. "We can use immuno-contraception to get their numbers down. We can plant native vegetation that is has evolved to being naturally resistant to deer. You can also put up deer fencing. You can play radios, you can do at home remedies like putting soap or even human hair around areas that you want to deter the deer from. The Department of Environmental Conservation should be supporting conservation, not killing. You can't conserve animals by killing them," Di Leonardo said.
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