Phyllis, I'm afraid I still don't really understand. To me, it seems
obvious that killing wolves so that human hunters will have more caribou and
moose to hunt is very different than killing deer so that many species of
orchids, lilies, butterflies, songbirds, and herps won't decline or even
disappear. In certain parts of the East Coast where deer hunting is not
allowed, some wildflower species haven't been seen for decades, and low-nesting
songbirds can no longer nest. In some parts of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania
that have too many deer, native plant communities are being decimated. The
only plant species that can survive to reproduce are those unpalatable to
deer.
I grew up near a state park in southeast Michigan where an anti-hunting
organization prevented a much-needed deer hunt for years. By the time a
sharpshooter was finally hired, there were two hundred deer per square mile,
fourteen species of wildflowers had completely disappeared from the park,
many other wildflower species were barely hanging on, and songbirds,
butterflies, and other animals were seriously suffering. Aldo Leopold was right in
saying that a mountain lives "in mortal fear of its deer" because of what
deer overpopulation can do. So do other ecosystems.
I don't want that level of deer damage in Iowa. Some of it is happening
here already.
I respect and greatly appreciate what you do for conservation. However,
if you are saying that we shouldn't kill deer in Iowa, then yes, you and I
will have to respectfully agree to disagree on this one. Best wishes --
ch
Cindy Hildebrand
[log in to unmask]
Ames, IA 50010
"A tree is an aerial garden, a botanical migration from the sea, from those
earliest plants, the seaweeds; it is a purchase on crumbled rock, on
ground. The human, standing, is only a different upsweep and articulation of
cells. How treelike we are, how human the tree." (Gretel Ehrlich)
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