Deer and Ticks: Where We Stand Today

Where We Stand Today on Deer and Tick-Borne Diseases

By Patricia Shillingburg
7/26/2006

    Now that the Town Board seems to be behind the Deer and Tick Committee’s plan to ask the New York State DEC for a special permit for 80 to 100 4-Poster systems, it is important that everyone on the Island understand that the DEC is the final hurdle.
    The DEC has declared the 4-Poster illegal in New York State. They have had two objections: the use of permethrin – the label does not include deer; and baiting deer which causes them to congregate and thus increases the chance for the spread of chronic wasting disease.
    The Deer and Tick Committee, in the course of its many conversations with the DEC, over many months, has been told recently that permethrin is no longer the issue. Thus the concern of baiting the deer – to treat their necks, heads and ears with permethrin to kill ticks before they lay their eggs – is the final obstacle to overcome.
    Those who work for the DEC are not unsympathetic to the plight of the Island. They know we are suffering from an epidemic of tick-borne diseases. Some are working to develop special arrangements that would allow the use of the 4-Poster in seriously afflicted communities such as Shelter Island, Brookhaven Labs, and Fire Island.
    Our politicians, such as Congressman Tim Bishop, State Assemblyman Marc Alessi, and County Legislator Ed Romaine, are all looking for creative ways to help convince the DEC to find a solution.
    The DEC is well aware of our recent taking of six deer to test for permethrin in their meat, muscle, and liver and has asked for, and received, the heads of those deer over 18 months of age to test for chronic wasting disease.
    We are also widely circulating within the DEC a color copy of the photo of one of the deer’s ear infested with 45 ticks per square inch, which was in black and white in last week’s Reporter. (http://www.shelter-island.org/deerandtick/deer_head.html) The Deer and Tick Committee believes that the DEC – which is responsible for the health and welfare of the deer in New York State – will respond to the photo, as did members of the Committee, with revulsion at the apparent suffering of the deer with incessant bites from ticks. Of course, they are not just receiving the photos, but also the heads, which are still encrusted with feeding ticks. (The reason this deer head and photo are so startling to all concerned is that deer are usually culled in the cold months when ticks are in hibernation, and few were aware of the consequences of ticks feeding off deer in warm summer months.)
    The Deer and Tick Committee is gratified that Supervisor Al Kilb, working with Police Chief Jim Read, is developing strategies -- recommended originally by the Deer and Tick Task Force, from which the Town Committee emerged – to partner large tracks of land, both public and private, for hunting purposes. That is now happening.
The Deer and Tick Committee is pleased that the Town Board will support an application to the DEC to use the 4-Poster system; grateful to our politicians for their support; and, appreciative of the vocal and sustained support of the community. Together, we have come a very long way.
    Several members of the Deer and Tick Committee, and other members of the community, are now in the process of creating a not-for-profit foundation to raise funds to implement and maintain the 4-Poster system. Once our Certificate of Incorporation is registered with the state, which may take from one to six weeks, we can raise funds based on our application to the IRS.
The 4-Poster will not be an immediate fix. It will take three to four years to kill about 90 to 99.5 percent of the ticks on the Island. And once the blight to our health and welfare has been greatly reduced, the effort must be sustained, but on a more limited basis.
With the help of so many individuals, the Deer and Tick Committee, which has been resolute and focused, has made great progress. With the community’s continued support, we will reach our goal. But, we still have a way to go. We must keep up the pressure on the DEC. But, know that it is listening.