Special Report: Lyme Disease Part 1

What can the town or state do?

According to Sonja Christenson, the state Fisheries and Wildlife deer/moose expert, the deer density goal for eastern Massachusetts is eight or less per square mile of forested land, and we have 25 to 30 per square mile in our broader geographic region known as Wildlife Management Zone 10, which encompasses all the towns east of Route 495 and north of Norwell, Brockton, Easton and Mansfield.

There is a direct correlation between Lyme disease and deer overpopulation. Statistics show that when you get the deer population down to eight or less per square mile, the cases of Lyme disease can be significantly reduced in the area. Christenson explains that “keeping the deer population in balance with the environment and social tolerance levels, which are reflected in our deer density goals, will allow deer to exist at lower, healthy levels, while minimizing effects to public health and safety, property damage, and environmental damage.”

Even though the deer would be better off in the long run with a smaller, healthier population, I had an aversion to killing the deer, so I vigorously searched for a way to curb the deer tick population without harming the deer. I explored feeding or shooting deer with birth control hormones. It turns out that this is extremely expensive, and you would actually have to knock the deer out and mark them each time you gave them hormones, since they need a second booster shot for the birth control to be effective. You wouldn’t want to keep giving the same deer expensive hormones. This is also not an effective approach to deer populations that aren’t contained within a fencing system.

Moving the deer is also costly because you have to knock them out. The ones that aren’t harmed during transport don’t fare well in their new surroundings. A high percentage of the deer die because they aren’t familiar with the new terrain, food sources and predators.

I also looked into spreading Damminix tubes around our yards. This is a product that has tubes that are filled with a cotton ball-like substance that has chemicals in it similar to Frontline. Mice take the cotton back to their nests. The mice and their babies snuggle in it and get a treatment that kills the deer tick, which are feeding on mice. But in a neighborhood like mine, the houses are far apart and surrounded by woods, so treating the grassy yards alone would be like trying to put out a forest fire with a squirt gun. It wouldn’t hurt anything, but the problem is so widespread that it has gotten too big for this solution.

I understand that local budgets are tight and asking for town or state funding is an uphill climb, but as it turns out the best solution to this problem doesn’t cost much at all.

Christenson has made a compelling case for a well managed, coordinated deer hunting plan.

The Board of Health Lyme Disease Committee in the town of Dover has set up a pilot deer culling program with minimal costs. They have a group of citizen volunteers who do the brunt of the work involved. Their organized and managed bow-hunting program from tree stands killed 19 deer this last hunting season. But, according to Chairperson Barbara Roth-Schechter, that isn’t what makes their program successful.

“We are proud of this program because it demonstrated that the deer population can be lowered in a safe way,” she said. “The selected bow-hunters keep safety as a top priority. The neighbors and the community are satisfied, and now more public and private landowners are joining the program offering hundreds more acres for next year.”

The system that Dover has in place screens the hunters on their hunting knowledge, experience, and their approach to safety, and the local police perform a background check.

The town of Medfield is following suit and setting up a similar deer-culling program. Chris Kaldy, head of Medfield’s Lyme Disease Committee, stresses the importance of our communities working together on this regional problem.

“In order to truly address this public health concern, we need to work to get the deer population down to a healthy level in all of our neighboring communities,” he said. “It’s not just a community problem here and there; it is a widespread health issue.”

On Monday, April 25, from 7-9 p.m. at the Trailside Museum, Sonja Christensen, deer/moose expert of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, and Barbara Roth-Schechter, chair of the Board of Health in Dover, will be meeting with the Green Street area neighbors to discuss Lyme disease programs that have been successful in the Massachusetts area. Canton and Milton area residents are welcome.

Next week: Denny tests a park, a playground, a sports field, and the center of town for ticks. Check back Thursday to see what she finds.

Denny Swenson is an independent television producer. She was a staff member of WGBH-Boston for 14 years where she was credited as a producer, coordinating producer, and field producer. Currently, she is executive producer of “In Search of the Good Corporate Citizen,” the winner of the 2010 CINE Golden Eagle, Telly, Chris and World-Fest Houston awards for outstanding storytelling, production value and creative excellence. She is a resident of Canton and Milton and mother to a 10-year-old girl who goes to the Canton schools.

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