About four years ago, I joined a group of concerned citizens at the table in Grand Forks City Hall (Read “The Buck Stops Here”). I had a vested interest. I view the deer in this area as more than a novelty. I see them as a symbolic representation of humankind’s relationship with nature.
At that time, the “Deer Committee” as it soon became known, was comprised of a mixed bag of community interest. There was an avid rose gardener who dismissively referred to me as “young lady,” and minced no words in expressing her disinterest with the hoofed rats that pillaged her flower beds. I jokingly proposed we let a cougar loose in city limits, and she was nearly off with my head. Her husband calmed her with reason, “She’s only joking, honey.”
I expressed my opposition to methods of control that included “death or drugs*” (*essentially feeding deer birth control pills), and suggested we take the course of public education. I even drew the parallel to the struggles of living with an aging population base, and how ludicrous it would be for anyone to suggest we cull our seniors population. They drive too slow and get in the way, and many are sick and/or aggressive. Oh, the burden they place on our community!
I guess it comes down to values. We too are animals. Our impact on the earth is immeasurably destructive, and yet we feel the need to continue our control over the wild. Most especially when the wild encroaches and intrudes on our manicured lawns. Many argue that these antlered vermin need to be extinguished like an infestation of carpenter ants in your newly built home. But some of us are asking questions, like who we think we are to elevate our species above another.
Deer Pride.
