Monhegan Island in Maine had a one-time hunt in the mid-1990s to eliminate the deer population (deer had been introduced in 1955 and Lyme disease had become prevalent, with 13% of the island's residents infected). Five years later new cases of Lyme had been greatly reduced). Similar results have been reported elsewhere (http://www.deeralliance.com/node/10).
With 32 million deer in the U.S. and virtually no predators, the obvious approach to controlling the spread of tick borne diseases is to reduce the number of deer.
They're beautiful animals, but like with any other species, including humans, there's such a thing as too many.
I live rural and to me deer are a pest. I do not want them traipsing through my property and not really because of the damage they do to my plants but because of the tick issue.
As we have removed the deer's natural predators it is our job now to manage their population in absence of those predators. Lyme disease is one example of how we have failed to do that adequately.
Another thing we have done to make Lyme disease prevalent is make the fox a rare species. Part of the tick's complicated lifecycle involves mice, and mice and vole populations explode in the absence of foxes. Having a healthy fox population helps to keep the population of mice down, which can interrupt the lifecycle of the tick.
We need an active deer hunt, reintroduction of wolves in places, and a program to encourage foxes. Coyotes won't do much to suppress the population of mice.
Yes, we need more foxes! Actually I saw one the other night around here (suburban town near Boston); that makes me happy.
Snakes eat mice, too. People in the Northeast have eradicated many native snakes such as the Northeast timber rattler. We should reintroduce them, and this will cut into the tick's life cycle.
With 32 million deer in the U.S. and virtually no predators, the obvious approach to controlling the spread of tick borne diseases is to reduce the number of deer.
They're beautiful animals, but like with any other species, including humans, there's such a thing as too many.