Don’t put your children on deer: Carson City Supervisors hear update from Urban Wildlife Subcommittee
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Thu, 09/19/2024 - 12:03pm
On Thursday, Supervisors heard an update from Rob Boehmer, chair of the Carson City Advisory Board to Manage Wildlife, who presented on the annual urban wildlife report.
The advisory board created the Urban Wildlife Subcommittee in 2018 which focuses on education, provides data to the board on Urban Wildlife interactions and issues, and provides resources to the community, and more.
The board works closely with community partners such as the Nevada Department of Wildlife and Carson City Parks, Recreation and Open Space.
According to Boehmer, in 2023 the vast amount of calls came from western Nevada.
Despite the fact that most of Nevada’s wildlife lives in the Eastern portion of the state, most of the calls are coming from the west for a few reasons: one, because there are more densely populated areas and, therefore, more callers, and two, because individuals living in rural areas typically handle wildlife themselves, whether that be in a proper or improper way.
The western region also has black bears, which were the number one species called about, with 582 calls specifically in relation to the sierra’s bear species.
The second most-called-about species were coyotes, followed by songbirds and mule deer.
“The urban mule deer population in the region is very unique,” said Zac Campbell who serves as the western region outdoor education coordinator for NDOW. “We treat every phone call as education; we don’t respond to every single [call], but every phone call we try to educate people on how to live with wildlife.“
One call they receive quite often is in regards to baby animals and Campbell said they try their best to educate callers on the fact that they should never handle baby animals.
Mayor Lori Bagwell asked what’s one thing they would recommend to the community at large when it comes to education.
“Every call is unique, but I’d say: we live in an area that has wildlife,” Campbell said. “That’s not going to change, and we have to find a way to coexist with the wildlife, and not intervene in their daily lives.”
The advice NDOW offers most often, according to Campbell, is: Do not feed wildlife. Often, well-meaning residents or visitors will think that deer populations especially need to be fed, and will offer oats or wild bird seed in their yards.
“We help people to understand it’s illegal to feed wildlife,” Boehmer added. “It’s our responsibility as residents to make sure our garbage is taken care of — on the west side you can often follow the trail of trash cans right to the bear.”
Boehmer said the mule deer population in Carson City is unlike any other population in the region.
“It’s manifested because the habitat we have here is deal for them,” Boehmer said. “Deer in Carson City were born and raised here, they don't know how to go into the hill sand eat bitter brush; they know peaches and apples and rosehips are a delicacy they can eat. People feeding them interrupts their digestive system.”
Boehmer said that Sheriff Ken Furlong will agree that many of the deer are more well behaved than human citizens, often using the crosswalk and sidewalks to walk around in the downtown area.
Many calls also have to do with what people perceive as abandoned fawns, but Boehmer said almost 100% of the time, the baby deer have not been abandoned and citizens are advised to leave the babies alone or they might end up in an altercation with the does nearby.
Boehmer also mentioned the King of Carson, who passed away in 2020, https://carsonnow.org/story/09/08/2020/king-carson-carson-citys-beloved-... has left behind genetic offspring, and there are two or three deer that Boehmer believes will grow to be as big as the king when they reach maturity.
The importance behind wildlife education isn’t only the safety of animals, Boehmer said, but the safety of people as well.
In one case recently, Boehmer said a visitor to the capitol was stopped in the nick of time from entering into a very dangerous situation.
“We had to have a come-to-Jesus-talk with a visitor at the capital who was trying to put their child on the back of a doe to take a picture,” Boehmer said. “We were fortunate that one of the members of our county advisory board, Kirk Stewart, was there and helped educate and scared them a little I think, which was good.”
Going forward, Boehmer said they would like to see a formal adoption of an Urban Wildlife Awareness and Education week or month dedicated to outdoor education programs via NDOW’s Conservation and Education Wildlife Division; coordination with Carson City Parks, Recreation and Open Space’s interpretive learning programs; and coordination with Nevada State Parks Adventure programs.
