Deer may be splendid creatures to watch but they are also a severe pest. Which as the Oxford dictionary defines is: A destructive insect or other animal that attacks crops, food, livestock, etc.
We keep a pesticide-free garden but every year for the past seven years our grapes, figs, apples and tomatoes along with many other vegetables have been destroyed by deer.
I can accept the annoyance of having every tulip which blooms being chomped down by the deer. I don’t mind when they trim the dogwood bush to leafless stalks but when they destroy the grape vines, apples, and fig trees so that there is not a leaf left on the trunk, they are no longer cute they are pests.
My family has lived in Victoria since the late 1800s and I can assure you that it is only in the past 10 to 15 years that we have seen so many deer in the city proper.
Like the gray squirrels and rabbits these creatures are an invasive species. Left alone they will continue to expand their numbers and territory.
A cull for food program is the only sensible approach to prevent the further expansion of the current herds.
Raym Forbes, Victoria