Special Report: Lyme Disease Part 2

One of the neighbors I met on my calling spree works for Bay State Wildlife, a pest control company in Canton. David Clark and his boss, Mark Thomas, are usually answering calls to get squirrels or raccoons out of a homeowner’s attic, or dealing with pests of that nature. But they can both be seen roaming various woodsy areas around Canton and Milton tracking deer. Clark is quite familiar with the deer in these neighborhoods. He grew up on Green Street and his folks still live here. I asked him if it’s true that deer have two to three babies a year. In a gentle and thoughtful way, he says that most of the ones around our neighborhood do have two, but last year he noticed that one “old timer” had three young does following her around at the end of the season.

Clark said our Green Street-area deer have been suburbanized. “They have gotten used to living among people,” he said. “Years ago, you would never see them during the day, and now that is pretty common.”

Clark said he gets calls to help manage deer over by Indian Spring Road in Milton. “In the fall they wreak havoc over there,” he said. “During their mating rituals they ruin trees and landscape.”

He tells me that the deer like to “winter” in our neighborhood. The herd sizes are often 10 or 12 or even higher, which is an indicator of overpopulation. He said that when you see necks that aren’t filled out or coats that aren’t thick, “these are signs that the deer are underfed.” That might explain why they come right up to our front doors to eat our shrubs to the ground.

I explained that I believe there are a number of hunters in our neighborhood, but this overpopulation problem seems to have been growing steadily along. He tells me that most hunters who are in it for sport are after the large antlers that are on the bucks. But killing bucks does not curb the population.

“If I were to manage a program in here,” said Clark, “I would target the unhealthy deer first, and then I would focus on the female deer. Deer are very cautious and sensitive to scent, so I would work with the other hunters so we all have the same professional approach.

“For example, we should be familiar with the deer’s traveling pattern beforehand, be in the tree stands early in the morning, and approach the stands in a way that does not give off our scent in the wind. Our tree stands should be placed in a way that makes sense with one another. It’s hard to explain, but working together on things like that would make a huge difference.”

To get a sense of the scope of the deer overpopulation and its effect on the broader community, I called Milton’s Chief of Police Richard Wells. He said that on average he sees 15 car accidents a year involving a deer along routes 138 and 28. Lieutenant Kelleher of the Canton Police Department said that they see an average of 10 to 15 car accidents a year involving a deer on Route 138, Randolph Street, and all around the town of Canton.

Statewide car accident projections have grown significantly in the last five years. State Farm insurance does projections for the whole industry based on State Farm’s known auto insurance market share within each state. In 2002, they projected 4,750 deer/elk/moose claims in the state of Massachusetts. In 2008, that projection climbed to 13,667. According to Chief Wells, although coyote are a predator to the small deer, it seems that in our area “cars are the biggest predator to deer currently.”

I was curious to see if there were more indicators of a deer-tick problem around the town of Canton. I pulled my socks up over my pants, layered my clothes, and sprayed myself with 30 percent DEET spray and permethrin on my sneakers and outer layers, as Ms. Roth-Schechter had told me to do. (I will admit, I felt like the biggest 80s geek eva!) I then made a tick flag. I cut a white flannel sheet into a 3×3 foot square. I attached one end to a dowel and taped some coins to the bottom of the other end. Off I went to the park, playground, sports field, and even to the center of town.

And here is what I found.

The tick flag picked up six ticks at the Pequitside Park and a single tick in the small walking path between the playground and Messinger Field behind the high school. In the center of town, I walked the tick flag from the library to the post office and back. I found a tick right where you wouldn’t expect it – in a hardscaped area with intermittent grass in between. The next day I took the tick flag out for another walk in my neighborhood. On Hemenway Drive 11 ticks jumped on. And then along Green Street, ten ticks came for the ride. I would stop and check at approximately every telephone pole, and in between one set of poles four ticks appeared.

On Monday, April 25, from 7 to 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.

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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Posted by Canton Citizen on Apr 21 2011. Filed under Features. Both comments and pings are currently closed.