New York City is proposing to surgically sterilize deer on Staten Island to help control their growing population there.
The experimental method will target male bucks,and is fragment of a broader effort to make deer less of a nuisance to humans and mitigate their impact on the environment. The plan also includes an education campaign, traffic safety measures and protecting plants with fences and guards.
The Park's Department's Sarah Aucoin, and Director of the Urban Park Rangers,said the Staten Island is a top-notch spot to accomplish research."In biological terms, scientific terms, and it's considered a closed population," she said. "There's not the same kind of migration that you would find in a spot that is not an island, such as upstate New York."Aucoin said the city needs state approval of the plan before moving forward. Officials said a 2014 aerial study of Staten Island's deer population counted 763 deer in the borough.
Source: wnyc.org