To the editor:

Mornings at my family’s nursery on Poppasquash often begin with a deer chase. These sadly overpopulated creatures strip our evergreens of foliage 6’ up from the ground, and drive their horns into the bark of our maples, lindens, magnolias, and more. Damaged trees are unlikely to be selected by our customers, leading to eventual felling. Hurt trees may die from their wounds.

Bristol has been continually awarded “Tree City USA” status. Several of the town’s trees are lauded in arboriculture textbooks for their singular size and beauty. Trees provide cleaner air, higher property values, and lower crime rates. Replacing large trees maimed by deer with mature specimen would be extremely expensive for the town. Replacing with smaller ones means many of us wouldn’t see the tree in full glory during our lifetime. While I’ve heard countless Bristolians complain that there are too many deer, I haven’t heard any bemoan an oversupply of trees and green space.

Once timid animals, today’s deer barely react to my truck’s horn or revved engine. They feign flight, only to move on to another tasty tree. Surely this lack of fear can’t be a healthy evolution for them? As DEM’s senior biologist Dr. Ferreira pointed out, deer carry ticks that infect humans with debilitating Lyme disease, and their population growth has led to an increase in traffic accidents. The town would benefit from learning further ecological facts on why deer’s soaring numbers are unhealthy for them as a local species.

Let’s restore a healthy coexistence of trees, deer and humans by prudently thinning the herds. Our children will thank us.

Elizabeth Kinder
Managing Director, Samuel Kinder and Brother, Inc.
162 Poppasquash Rd.