Newtown Deserves Proof

That A Deer Cull Will Work

To the Editor:

Mr Cox states [“Combating the Lyme Epidemic,” Letter Hive, 1/22/10], “Opponents argue that no cull can be truly effective unless it reduces the population to fewer than 20 animals per square mile from as many as 70 today.”

In fact, it is not deer cull “opponents” who argue this point. It is the scientists conducting the tick-deer studies, like Dr Kirby Stafford, who make this point. You will find this quote by Dr Stafford plastered all over the pro deer cull websites:

 “Reducing deer densities to below 10–12 per sq mile has been shown to substantially reduce tick numbers and human Lyme disease.” Kirby C. Stafford III, PhD, vice director, chief entomologist, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven.

Scientists like Dr Stafford have also made the point that a strategy that works on an island may not work in an ecologically open community, like Newtown:

 “With the exception of some islands, it is unlikely deer numbers can be reduced and maintained at a level sufficient to impact the rate of tick-borne diseases.” Dr Kirby Stafford III, Frontiers of Plant Science, Special Issue, “Coping with Deer in Connecticut,” Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Vol. 53, No. 2, Spring 2001.

It’s a fact that no open mainland community has been able to show a reduction in tick-borne disease by killing deer, even ones with very aggressive deer reduction programs.

Earlier this month, Dr Anthony DeNicola of White Buffalo, Inc addressed Newtown’s Tick-Borne Disease Action Committee. Dr DeNicola runs a deer “management” company, which means that he and his staff are hired by towns and private landowners to kill deer. At this meeting, Dr DeNicola said that he worked in Newtown about 20 years ago and believes we have the same amount of deer now as we had then.

More importantly, Dr DeNicola clearly stated that his services would result in fewer deer, but he was not comfortable selling the public on the idea that with the reduction of deer we would also see a reduction of Lyme disease because there is no research showing evidence of this.

I don’t think anyone would label Dr DeNicola “emotional” or a “Bambi lover” because he doesn’t believe reducing deer will reduce Lyme disease in Newtown. If the town is going to “take action” against tick-borne disease by killing deer, the community deserves proof that it would work in a community like ours.

Lynn Printy

Boggs Hill Road, Newtown                                       January 26, 2010