Posted on 08/21/2007 6:39:09 PM PDT by Coleus
The search for the "magic bullet" contraceptive, a one-shot, long-lasting solution to the state's deer overpopulation woes, has once again eluded scientists, according to the latest study by a wildlife research team. Biologist Anthony DiNicola's study of a captive herd at the Giralda Farms corporate center in Madison found that one of the latest immuno-contraceptives, called GonaCon, falls far short of being a viable vaccine. Had it worked, scientists say it would have been a godsend to towns with too many deer, and where hunting is difficult or impractical.
The two-year study of 51 adult deer at Giralda Farms showed the contraceptive to be just 70 percent effective after one year and 55 percent after two years, far less than the 90-plus percent effective rate needed to make its use feasible in some situations, DiNicola said in a report filed with federal and state environmental officials.
Those findings are similar to results of a companion federal study being conducted in Maryland, where GonaCon had an 88 percent success rate in year one, but only a 47 percent success rate after two years, according to researchers for the National Wildlife Research Center.
"We're looking hard for that single shot contraceptive we need. We've made great strides to reach the next level. The technology is getting us closer," said DiNicola, owner of Connecticut-based White Buffalo Inc., a wildlife management firm. "Unfortunately, right now, it's not a practical concept."
Why the need for one shot success?
Trying to capture, mark and inoculate free-range deer in the woods or suburban neighborhoods in the months before breeding season, and then finding the same deer again the next year to give them booster shots would be very difficult and very expensive.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Well it’s a heck of a lot safer than trying to put the condoms on them.
I have reliable birth control for deer.
;-)
Well, 180 grain lead pills have proven to be very effective for over a hundred years now.
Oh brother, so many metafores, so little time. The author had to be poking fun at them for not using the obvious splution.
HEY!....hey!...Vick, Is going to prison, for cruelty to animals....that Photo would've depopulated that forest/area.....for @ least 2 generations.
Goose is tasty, if it’s prepared correctly. I wish we could hunt Canadas here (NC); every ornamental water feature has a colony of them.
Deer overpopulation?
“Arise, Peter, kill and eat!” Thus spake the Angel of the Lord.
(The Apostles didn’t even have 150-220 grain bullets. Yet were they so commanded to harvest the flesh of their sustenance.)
works every time...
Starting to wish we could hunt swans. They’re beautiful birds but 40 or 50 of them on a few hundred acres of lake gets to be too much in a hurry.
It seems that NJ hunting laws are the reason for the deer population explosion, but what do I know.
But hey, let's catch all the deer and shoot them up with the pill. That's the ticket. I'm not sure what they mount over the fireplace in New Jersey.
That’s the problem with “protecting” an animal. Without large natural predators, they quickly overpopulate the habitat.
lolol
I only came to this thread to make a smart-alecky comment about preventing deer from reproducing, but I see y’all already know how.
The “magic bullit” for the state’s deer overpopulation woes fits in a 30-30...what the hells the problem???....just feed the homeless with deer meat.
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