By Raeanne Raccagno
Copy Editor
Among the furry animals that travel across the College’s campus, no one visits the grounds more than the local deer. Seemly harmless, and a fun sight for students, these creatures have been a terror to the local ecosystem.
The deer have become habituated to the campus environment and act unbothered when people venture close and interact with them. This may seem like an amusing quirk you can tell your friends while comparing college experiences, but according to Janet Morrison, a biology professor at the College, their tame nature toward humans is a bad phenomenon.
“They are wild animals that should be left alone for their own dignity,” Morrison said. “They have learned from experience that, on our campus, there is no hunting so there is little to fear from humans.”
It’s tempting to get closer and attempt to befriend the deer, but Morrison advises it’s best to move away and observe the mammals from a distance. She also warns against the possible diseases they could transmit.
Aside from potential illnesses, the deer have been plaguing the greenery on campus for years, leaving the grounds workers little room for creativity while creating garden spaces on campus. Mike Weber, manager of auto, grounds and landscaping, said the deer damage to campus foliage has been increasing over the past five to six years.
“They are eating just about every plant we put in the ground,” Weber said. “We specifically choose plants that are deer resistant, but they eat those too. Deer repellent helps a little bit, but they are even eating the plants that have the repellent around them.”
Morrison notes how the College provides a fair amount of “ideal deer habitat” with the small patches of fragmented forests with edge sections between the open grassy and wooded areas. These areas give the deer a buffet of plant foods along with shelter in the woods for when they rest.
While the campus may seem like a quintessential retirement spot, Morrison said there is nothing unique about the College and deer are just everywhere due to the state having an overabundance of the animals. She mentioned recent estimates that say there are about 45 deer per square kilometer in New Jersey.
“At the very high densities that these animals are at now, they are very destructive…they browse on woody plants and graze on herbaceous plants,” Morrison said. “Nothing is wrong with that in theory, but at these very high densities, they over-browse and over-graze.”
According to Morrison, the reduced plant diversity has bad effects on the food chain, providing less food and habitat for insects, thus giving birds less of a food source. She said there is also evidence that deer help the invasion of deer-tolerant nonindigenous plants in some cases.
The deer have also lost their natural fear due to the Garden State being densely populated and pushing out their natural predators. Morrison explained how wolves have been extinct from the region for years, mountain lions avoid populated areas and coyotes have become more scavengers than hunters.
Aside from innately dying due to disease, lack of food and age, deers face death from automobiles and recreational hunters. Deer management hunts sometimes take place in an attempt to control the population, but Morrison said that all these factors combined are not enough to keep up with the current deer population.
The deer sightings have become such a staple on campus that students have made an Instagram account of deer features, @deeroftcnj, with almost 2,000 followers.
