What kind of damage can deer cause?

The large deer population in suburban areas is leading to a number of conflicts between the people and the deer. The most common problem is the collision between deer and automobiles. This may result in extensive property damage, death and bodily injury. There is also the risk of diseases because deer are a carrier of black legged ticks which carry around many human diseases. The most well-known disease is Lyme disease, but the ticks may have other diseases which are not as serious.

Besides the diseases the ticks carry, the deer may suffer from different types of diseases that can affect humans. The deer can eat trees as well as plants in a garden since they are normally enhanced by things like fertilizers and pH normalization. When a deer’s natural foods are limited in supply in a particular area, the backyard will become a magnet to it, especially if there is a garden or other vegetation.

When the deer are in large number, this may lead to significant habitat damage in backyards, parks, and other areas. Even though they are browsers, the browsing may also have some negative impact on the environment. They eat the shrubs that are near the ground, and they also eat the covers of nesting sites that are needed by different species of birds. What they eat may also be the food eaten by other animals, so too many deer can create unbalanced situations as well as a lack of food supplies for the deer and other animal populations.

The plants that are tolerant to the browsing may flourish, which could come at the expense of less tolerant species. The deer may affect their own habitat with the abundance of some plant species. When some types of vegetation get reduced, then this could affect the populations of some songbirds. There are some species that may no longer inhabit the area while others may not be that abundant. The nesting of the birds will be out in the open when deer eat their cover, and this will lead to easy detection by the predators.

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