Beating a dead deer?
To the editor:
Let me qualify this by saying this is only “my” opinion, and since a majority hand show vote (August 15, 2002) chose that “something” must be done about the deer situation, what I say changes nothing … yet I must speak.
Habitat: we have been informed how deer change the habitat. Yet, have we really owned how “we” change the habitat of a place? The deer simply eat what they need to survive, make small trails and move on. As humans, our needs are far more complex and we have not yet learned how to blend into the environment as deer have. We cut, bulldoze what is in our way. We build roads, build houses, dig holes in the ground for water and septic systems, drive golf carts, cars, trucks, etc. We clear land for ball fields, tennis courts. I’m not saying these things are bad, just that we do this. Imagine a spaceship flying close to the land. An unfamiliar “species” looking down at the two groups here – the deer and the humans… and asked which group has caused more “damage” to the habitat?
Why do we think we are superior to the deer? Why do we think we have the “right” to thin the herd … to control the herd. Is it because we have more power? If there were no people on Cliff Island, nobody to control the situation, the deer herd would regulate itself. Survival of the fittest. Yet, it is not in our nature to just let it be. Living with animals is not familiar to us. This summer I heard there were 400 people on Cliff. I imagine there are fewer than 40 deer, yet the judgment/consensus says there are too many deer. Perhaps the deer think there are too many of us.
As to gardening, successful ways have been found… and don’t forget that this is the farthest island out in Casco Bay that the ferry services. Again, it is human nature to be drawn to the “wild” and then to recreate the “civilization” that we left.
As to the Lyme tick issue, several meetings ago I mentioned the possibility of dogs bringing these ticks to the island. It did not get the attention I thought it deserved. Last night a veterinarian said that indeed the incident of Lyme tick disease in dogs is rising. Consider this: over 200 deer were killed on Peaks Island and not one incident of Lyme tick was reported. Overall, it seems the deer have not yet been infested, but look at the number of dogs being brought to the island from heavily infested tick areas – by summer renters, by day visitors… have these dogs been de-ticked? The finger may be being pointed in the wrong direction. If there is a serious concern about Lyme disease, face this issue. Alert your summer renters, your friends, post a sign down at the wharf. No dogs unless they are regularly treated for the tick.
In ending these thoughts I would like to say a tremendous thank you to Cliff Island for the five years I have been graced to live here in relative “non-change.” For the opportunity to witness rainbows, to see fawns so close as to notice the varying spot patterns on their backs, to stand within a yard to a young spikehorn buck in velvet. To watch big bucks running free on the edge of a beach. There aren’t many places left that our children get such opportunities.
Cliff Island is not escaping change. Change is the constant. We now have the majority vote to “manage.” There are fewer and fewer wild places left. Left allowed to just be. The signs of the times have found Cliff Island. The management plans for natural resources… so if or when a deer reduction option is put into effect, the energy of the island will be forever changed. This I feel very sad about, but then again, this is not wild kingdom… is it?
None of us is the ultimate authority here. We stumble along, knowing in our hearts that it is love, compassion, letting go judgment, that there is a need to be willing to rise above our conflicts and find the place within that joins us together, not separates us. This is the real challenge. This is the point of power. One day at a time.
Kat Farrin
Cliff Island