Foxophilia
...
Deer Deliberations

Friends of Chicago Wilderness Magazine make donations

Spring 2005

FOXOPHILIA

Dear Editor,

I was very excited to see the article about the gray fox (“Gray Foxes Among the Gravestones,” Winter ’05). I had the honor of exchanging looks with a gray fox this past summer. My friend and I saw the beautiful animal in a small cemetery called Union Ridge on the northwest side of Chicago! The fox appeared very relaxed as it rested in the sun. We exchanged looks for a few minutes before he decided to trot off. It is wonderful to know that other people find these beautiful tree climbers as wondrous as we do.

Laura Lynn Jackson
Chicago, Illinois

DEER DELIBERATIONS

Dear Editor,

I read with great interest the poignant article regarding deer hunting and the call for dialog (“Finding Common Ground in a Landscape of Deer and People,” Winter ’05, by William Lynn). As you may remember, McHenry County passed a hunting program three years ago and have had success and lessons learned. We also tried to heal the wounds of the community by sponsoring restoration workdays right after the decision, inviting hunters and non-hunters together to work the land and realize what they have in common. This has been one of many small steps that have helped the conservation community seek common ground.

Martha Carver
McHenry County Conservation District Board President
Hebron, IL

Dear Editor,

We are blessed with the beauty and grace of the white-tailed deer. But with development, deer find it more difficult to freely roam to new areas for forage and woodland cover. This isolation leads to the inability of the habitat to properly support deer; sickness, starvation, disease, infertility, malnutrition — all become enemies of the herd, and slow death, weakness, illness, fatigue, and discomfort result.

No one likes to think of killing deer — yet would we rather allow them to have a slow and painful death? With today’s outstanding ballistics and a competent and caring wildlife management hunter, lethal thinning is an effective, quick, and humane solution. To do less than this is not meeting our human responsibility to the welfare of the animals we say we care for.

Name Withheld By Request
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine

PS: Do you feel I will have any backlash and assault upon my practice by animal rights or PETA? While I know I am right as to population control, some of those folks have become very aggressive in harming people they do not agree with.

Editors’ Note: We, too, have seen discussion of these issues made very difficult by impassioned personal assaults by some “animal rights” activists. It’s a sad situation, but we did not think we could honestly tell this vet that we thought his practice wouldn’t be harmed. We wonder if we are over that stage? We honestly don’t know.

Dear Editor,

I grew up in Indiana and have been hunting deer since I was eight years old.... For the last two years I have been working right across from the Des Plaines River, and I am amazed at the population of deer and wildlife along the river. I have seen so many accidents and deer carcasses along this stretch of forest preserve and realize there is a problem at hand.

Adam Anderson
Chicago, Illinois

Dear Editor,

I was delighted to read William Lynn’s article. I had never before read nor heard a “member of the pro-animal movement” admit there was such a thing as an excess deer problem - even on the East Coast, where deer populations can exceed 300 per square mile.

Back in 1999, in the Indiana Dunes area, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources attempted to achieve a “creative middle ground” by establishing a Dunes region deer study group, moderated by a private consulting group. Representatives included conservationists, state and federal natural resource professionals, local elected officials, and members of the “pro-animal movement.” Over the course of several meetings, animal movement representatives attempted to limit the character of the report, then sought to remove DNR field staff, and then attempted to malign the scientific work of nationally recognized forest ecologist George Parker.

As a conservationist, I believe deer have a place in the ecosystem, but not a primary place relative to flora and other fauna.

Thomas Drake
Munster, IN