This week’s City Limits story about a deer study that apparently resulted in the death of at least one grown deer from a faulty collar prompted several follow-up questions.
Two questioners wondered why archers aren’t used to harvest the meat from deer that might be in jeopardy; another asked why micro-chipping wasn’t done instead of using tracking collars; and still another asked who paid for the study.
READ MORE: Faulty Collars Blamed For Deer Deaths In Bloomington
Bloomington was chosen for the study because of its mix of city living and lush vegetation, according to the study website. There are urban deer and also deer in the area that live outside the city.
“So Bloomington offers us an exceptional opportunity to study urban and rural deer in close proximity to see if we can better understand the forces that affect the density of deer in different areas,” the study states.
“The information we gather about these deer is designed to be used to understand the general movement of deer in urban and rural settings in Indiana," it says.
So, we set out to answer some of your questions.
Who paid for the study/the collars?
Ball State University, Western Michigan University and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, all participated in the study through a Wildlife Restoration Grant.
The study was not commissioned by or paid for by the city as part of an overall deer management strategy. The study was led by Tim Carter, chair of Environment, Geology and Natural Resources Department and director of field stations and environmental education center at Ball State.
A 2017 Wildlife Science Report from the DNR's Division of Fish & Wildlife says the total cost for the project was $873,293.
Why use tracking collars?
A Q&A about the 2016 Ball State University study states: “The collars used in this study are specially and specifically designed for white-tailed deer fawns and have been used without incident in previous studies. These collars are made of a neoprene type material that allows them to stretch as the fawn grows. Further the collars have special folds of extra material sewn into them with cotton thread. As the deer grows the cotton thread begins to disintegrate and releases the folds one at a time allowing the collar to expand as the fawn grows. The collars have enough stretch and folded material to accommodate the neck of a fully grown deer.”
Ball State University researchers noted the fawns were handled for less than four minutes, no drugs or chemicals were used and the fawns were expected to live full lives with minimal impact.
There was no expectation the collars would choke the fawns as they grew.
A Facebook post from April 2016 shows a Ball State researcher in the process of collaring a 2-year-old buck:
A WFIU commenter stated, “Why does man think he can control everything on this planet? Leave nature alone …”, suggesting the tracking was unnecessary.
Will more deer be collared by researchers?
Not by researchers in this particular study. The DNR Wildlife Science Report says the last deer was collared in July 2016 and monitoring of the collared deer ended in July 2017.
What will happen to the remaining collared deer?
As mentioned in our original story, Director of Bloomington Animal Control Virgil Sowder says his agency is monitoring the remaining collared deer.
Sowder says since animal control doesn’t carry any tranquilizers, officers won’t be able to capture any of them.
Instead, officers will alert the DNR when the collared deer appear to be in poor health.
The idea was to let the deer live out their lives with the collars. Study designers wrote, “it would be far more traumatic to attempt to capture the deer to remove the collars. This would require the use of drugs and other methods that could potentially cause more harm than good."
What should I do if I see a deer with a collar that looks too tight?
If you see a deer that appears to be in distress, call Bloomington Animal Control at (812) 349-3492 during business hours and at (812) 339-1444 in the case of an after-hours emergency.
Emma Atkinson contributed to this post.
