Health District Board Won’t Take Position On Deer Reduction

By John Voket

The Newtown Health District Board, during a special meeting Monday, August 27, refused to take an immediate position on supporting deer reduction as one means of reducing tick-borne illness in town. John and Ann Moran appeared at the afternoon meeting saying that their own family members have been affected by tick-borne disease, and asking for the board to take a stand on the issue, but Chairman Robert Grossman, MD, said there was “no data to connect deer reduction” to Lyme disease reduction.

“Shooting deer does not make a difference unless the area is isolated,” Dr Grossman said. He also told the Morans that a letter to The Bee recently outlined how the town is expected to move forward based on recommendations provided by a Tick-Borne Disease Action Committee.

“First, the selectmen have requested the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to prepare a deer management protocol, including a citizen survey and deer count,” Dr Grossman and committee Co-Chair Michele McLeod wrote. “The town may or may not act on some or all of DEEP’s management suggestions. Second, a committee will be created with the goal of creating a revitalized public campaign to educate the public as to what they need to do to protect themselves against [tick-borne] diseases.”

Health District Director Donna Culbert said First Selectman Pat Llodra has directed her and school district Health Education Supervisor Judy Blanchard to co-chair a committee looking at how to further educate the public on preventing tick-borne disease.

Ms Culbert said the education committee will continue to hone and improve the messaging and materials available to the public, as well as to try and gain an understanding about why Newtown’s rate of tick-borne disease infections remains so high despite aggressive informational and outreach efforts.

The education committee is also planning to work with researchers at Western Connecticut State University to try and learn why the efforts to date “are not getting the message across.”

Mr Moran then told the Health District Board that he was specifically interested in seeing some formalized position put forward on links between deer populations and incidents of tick-borne diseases. But Dr Grossman reiterated that present efforts will be concentrated on education, and there would be no position taken on deer reduction.

Ms Culbert offered that ticks cannot perpetuate as effectively without large animals like deer that can harbor thousands of the insects on each animal.

“We try to help people understand that deer are part of the equation, but we ask people to limit their exposure by not feeding them or maintaining landscaping features that attract deer,” the Health District director said.

Mr Moran replied that “the rational thing is for the town to take a stand on deer reduction, but you’re saying it can’t be done.” He then suggested that a vocal special interest group is “preventing you from trying.”

Mr Moran then told the Health District Board that he has taken up an effort to try and get neighbors who own large tracts of land in his neighborhood to allow hunters on their property to target deer, and that he has seen some measured success.

“These hunters are not interested in sport hunting. The hunters we will employ know we are interested in reduction,” Mr Moran said, adding that he finds it troubling that the town is not reacting to the more than 100 traffic accidents caused every year by deer.

“No education will prevent that,” he said, “they run right out in front of you. There’s no time to react.”

Mr Moran said the Health District and its board are the “first line of defense,” and that he believes even First Selectman Pat Llodra is afraid to take a position on deer reduction “because she’s afraid of losing votes to this vocal group.”

Dr Grossman said that it would be “inappropriate to try” to reduce the deer population “if it would not make a difference.”

Board member Bernie Meehan added that deer “will go to areas where they are not hunted.”

“We can eradicate them from Hawleyville but they will go and proliferate in the Paugussett State Forest,” Mr Meehan said.

Dr Grossman also mentioned the anticipated cost to hire specialized sharpshooters who could charge as much a $500,000 to come into a community and guarantee some level of results.

“I don’t think it will be effective,” Dr Grossman said. “If I did, I’d be out on the street corner with you.”

Ms Culbert said she knows the town is divided on the issue, and that she anticipates significant further discussion on the matter will occur following the publication of results from the DEEP survey. She also described her frustration over the raft of media reports on the recent spike in West Nile Virus in the state, while there remains little widespread public information about tick-borne diseases and their prevention.

She and Ms Blanchard plan to present ideas to the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday, September 4, regarding stepped-up education and prevention efforts.