Letters

The time has come to end the reign-of-deer terror we are all living under. Dangerous, destructive, disease-bearing deer have taken over, cavorting, feasting, defecating, leaping in front of cars and reproducing exponentially. Failure to cull the legions of these marauding beasts has resulted in a paradise for them and disease and frustration for us.

The health dangers that deer ticks and other parasites they carry inflict on the human species (in addition to Lyme disease) are: anaplasmosis, babesiosis, brucellosis, campylobacteriosis (Campylobacter jejuni), chronic wasting disease, cryptosporidiosis, deer parapoxvirus and ehrlichiosis. And ticks do not die off in winter, as is commonly hoped.

A few realities: Every deer feeds five times daily. They eat about 6 to 8 percent of their body weight in green foliage (remember your chewed-to-death hostas, hydrangeas, rhododendrons?). A 150-pound deer polishes off up to 12 pounds of food daily (multiply that by the multitudes) before setting off to roam around rubbing the bark off trees, then settling down to rest, and spreading ticks, et al, along the way.

Failure to act, overdevelopment, and fear of offending the Disney-inflected sentimentality and decrees of the Bambi-pimps has led to near crisis. Large numbers of deer must be culled for safety and health reason. Now.

Southampton Village has recently instituted a Deer Management Program under the able supervision of Suffolk County Deer Management. While welcome, it does not go far enough. The de facto animal preserve on the land across from Rogers Memorial Library, for instance, should be included. This tract is host to dozens of deer that jump out in front of cars on a dangerous curve and scour the surrounding residential streets munching on anything they please. Incidentally, when was it that the public voted to allow this al fresco zoo?

We as homeowners must pick up the slack by contacting Suffolk County Deer Management, 631-445-7568, to allow them to set up blinds and hunt with bow and arrow on our properties during the hunting season (September 1 to January 31). They require a signed consent form. Their service is free but donations are welcome. The hunters are unobtrusive, courteous and sensitive.

Make the call and help the cull. Humans, as well as other species, have rights, too.

Frances Genovese

Southampton