Deer can wreak havoc on your garden or crops. A study by the University of Massachusetts says adult deer can eat up to 10 pounds of food a day. Multiply that by a multitude of deer, and the devastation can occur quickly. Researchers at UM explain, when deer do come for your crops, they don't go through in a clean sweep. Instead, they stomp through your land, tearing apart your plants from the root up. Their teeth are not made for slicing, so instead, they have to rip the plants and gnaw on them, leaving no hope for that plant to grow back from the bottom. Deer will not sit still and eat their way through an entire pumpkin, squash, or melon. They are skittish by nature, and always on the move, so many fruits and vegetables may be damaged in the course of one meal.

 

But it isn't just crops that deer can damage. They pose a threat to human safety overall. State Farm says in 2018 that one in 167 drivers in the United States crashed into a deer or similar animal. The Insurance Information Institute says of those 1.33 million total crashes that year, 211 people died. In a study by the North Carolina Department of Transportation from 2014 to 2017, in North Carolina alone over that period, 14 people died, and 3,265 people were injured in car accidents with deer. And as of right now, there's no sign the number of collisions is trending downward – in fact, there were 629 more crashes caused by deer in 2017 than in 2016. Those stats earn deer the rank of being the leading cause of human death by animals in the United States.

 

If you're lucky enough to make it out of a crash like that without injury, that doesn't mean the incident comes without pain – State Farm says the national cost per claim for a collision with a deer can reach more than $4,000 on average some years. The Federal Highway Administration says the total monetary damage nationwide amounts to about 8.4 billion dollars annually, once you factor in hospital bills, how much it costs to get law enforcement out there to direct traffic around the accident, along with the value of the deer and dealing with it. The FHA also warns people can suffer severe emotional trauma from being put in a situation where they feared death. That's a price no one could put a number on.

 

Washington State University studied diseases that can be passed from deer to humans and found some scary stuff. They can pass on Tuberculosis, Q Fever, Weil's Disease, and more. They carry the bacteria for chlamydia and salmonella. A lot of the time, the animal might not even seem or look sick, and you don't have to come in contact with the actual deer; many of these diseases can spread by the animal's urine. Ticks that travel on deer can carry Lyme Disease, which you can contract if you are bitten. Some cases of Lyme Disease can last up to 6 months. If you're pregnant or if your immune system is compromised, you're at an even higher risk of contracting those diseases. The state of North Carolina says trapping deer and trying to relocate them is largely unsuccessful. Plus, there are complicated federal laws that affect where you can relocate deer.

 

We're here to tell you, there's a better way. Let Cooks Pest Management do a free inspection at your home or business. We only ever use methods of deer removal that are both humane and scientifically proven to work. We'll make sure not only to get any deer away that are hanging around your property at the moment; we'll also keep them from coming back in the future. We live in the area we service and have been around these deer for many years. We will use the same tried and true methods for you that we use on our property. Give us a call today.