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Show i ,J Mr r-. - . r V - V, Patrolman Chris Symes of the Centerville Police Department examines a large buck that was run over by a vehicle and subsequently had to be destroyed. The heavy winter snows have forced nearly the entire county's deer herd into residential areas, where between three to five deer a night are being killed by vehicles, stray dogs or dangerous residential fences. Wjldlife andcity officials are seeking help frpnv the community to prevent such unnecessary slaughter. 4 Officials advijGaBtidn as deer herds roam in streets ByTOMHARALDSEN Davis County's deer herds, suffering suf-fering from knee-deep snow covering cover-ing their winter range and driven off the hillsides by a lack of food, are being killed at an alarming rate both by vehicles and animals, and by fences surrounding homes in the area. . The problem has reached a crisis stage, so much so that a cooperative effort by Centerville City police and the county's Wildlife Resources personnel has been launched. The concern js not only for the deer, but for motorists and dogs in the county. Centerville Police Chief Jim Oswald stated Friday that an average of three to five deer a day " ' art being killed by vehicles' in Centerville, mostly on main tributaries tribu-taries .sucft aJn Stret jand. "This is a real danger to motorists,", moto-rists,", he stated. ."Deer are just the right height to roll across a car hood and go through a windshield. Last year, we removed deer from the front seat of vehicles more than once.": T ' ; ;": t ?7 He pointed out that Jeer, which are easily spooked, use most of their energy during the daytime as they run. Thus, they are literally - exhausted by evening hours, often roaming in search of food and disoriented disor-iented by headlights on vehicles. Deer are unpredictable when crossing or standing on the side of the road, he explained. On icy roads, deer are startled by headlights head-lights and horns, and can fall in front of an oncoming car. . Many deer are also being chased by loose dogs. If a deer falls or runs into a chain link fence, it can be killed by dogs, or break a leg and ultimately ul-timately have to be destroyed. Wildlife Enforcement officer Larry Davis explained that dogs ar ' periodically drawn from yards by the deer, so extra caution should be f used in restraining dogs. He noted that dog owners can be fined for : dogs chasing, injuring or killing deer. ' Deer are bedding down in town ' jldaily,' and are ,out feedingafter 4 i ' p.m.j Davis said. That cpntinues into the night on almost every city 5l street. Most of the homes in the - County are built in the deer's winter k habitat range, which has rapidly de-i de-i creased in recent years from 2600 c acres to less than 400 in Centerville - alone. There are strong mixtures of feelings - in the community from 1 both those who: feel sorry for the , deer and allow them to eat what they want; and those who feel the animals are a nuisance. Davis advised that trees and shrubs can be covered or wrapped with burlap, or. sprayed with Ropel (a deer repellant). The burlap can be obtained at no cost from Wildlife Resources in both Ogdcn and Salt Lake City, and the repellant is available avai-lable at some local nurseries. "A Salt Lake newspaper recently published a remedy which advised that blending an egg in a quart of Vater, then spraying this on plants and shrubs, makes it undesirable for the deer to eat," Davis noted. - Fences are another problem, as deer will often repeatedly run into-chain into-chain link fences in an attempt to . escape danger. Fences that are 3-5 , feet high can severely injure a deer by trapping, breaking a leg or even impaling the animal. Chief Oswald said that "covering the pointed posts, opening gates to allow exits and not startling deer When possible will help as deer are forced to feed jn residential areasl 1 . Wildlife officers try to stay away from artificial feeding stations for a number of reasons, among them the fact that, first, deer tend to stay in these areas after the snow melts; and second, deer pellets do not provide pro-vide an adequate diet like that provided pro-vided by normal foraging. Disose is also a factor that has a serious effect on deer when they group into large herds. When large groups are fed, deer tend to build resident city herds and do not return to the mountains as winter snow melts, Davis added. . ; "Slowing down on roads, being a little morecautious and taking into ' consideration the unfortunate situation situa-tion our deer herd is in will benefit all of us," Oswald concluded. |