Page 83 - October Sun Rays_Oct 2015

GREY FOX BY LYNN MANN

BULLFROG BY SHERRY MCRAE

the insight and commitment to retain Sun City’s labor intensive and environ- BOBCAT BY TOM BACKUS
his ongoing services. For the past nine mentally critical deer management pro-
years Warren has worked closely with gram features an annual deer census Warren oversees completing the volumi-
the CA, proposing and designing pro- in September, conducted with the help nous paperwork required by the State
grams to humanely and scientifically of resident volunteers. Census results for a Trap, Transfer, and Process (TTP)
manage our wildlife, attending monthly are forwarded to the Texas Parks and permit and contracting with a state ap-
Wildlife Committee meetings, making Wildlife Department, which determines proved trapper. In the past, captured
himself available to address residents’ the number of deer that should be re- deer were released to nearby qualified
wildlife concerns, and providing updates moved in order to maintain a carrying ranches to replace losses to their own
at our annual Town Hall meeting each capacity, i.e., the number of deer that can native deer herds. Due to the overwhelm-
spring. be properly maintained on our habitat. ing amount of paperwork required for a
Release Site Permit, deer are humanely
Effective wildlife management programs
require a “big picture” perspective in Continued on the next page
order to make tough, sometimes contro-
versial decisions. All white-tailed deer in O C TO B E R 2 0 1 5 SUNRAYS | 81
Texas belong to the state, and handling
them requires a state permit. Our cov-
enants prohibit feeding deer, but resi-
dents are still tempted to do so. Feeding
wildlife sometimes leads to dietary con-
sequences that humans don’t perceive.
Deer become habituated, altering their
food choices. During droughts our local
deer population increases because we
have water and a food supply, including
the “deer resistant” plants in our yards.

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