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Ocyanea t1_iwwpvqy wrote

Reply to comment by Zargabraath in Canadian scientists discover new COVID-19 variant in deer that may spread to humans by Memetic1

Hunting is the biggest form of population control for deer. Deer population has exploded from about half a million a hundred years ago to 30 million today — without hunting those numbers would be even worse. Overpopulation spreads disease. Cutting the population down is the best way to prevent the disease from spreading.

Most hunters I know who get deer in CWD positive zones get their deer tested before eating it. Most of them are old enough to remember mad cow disease and to not want to fuck with it.

Hunters in my state killed nearly 400,000 deer last year. Ban hunting and the deer population will absolutely explode.

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Zargabraath t1_ix0n3qj wrote

or just allow the historical predators like wolves to recover and tell the ranchers to stop shooting them. that improves the environment across the board by the way, not just by controlling deer populations.

what do you think controlled deer populations for the 99% of the time that they've been on this planet that modern humans weren't around to hunt them?

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Ocyanea t1_ix0q4oi wrote

Unfortunately, wolves aren’t going to hunt deer in populated areas. They aren’t as adaptable as coyotes are, whereas deer are perfectly content to hang out in the suburbs.

A lot of people hunt just a few miles from population centers. That’s not the sort of place wolves are going to thrive. Repopulating wolves might work in some very rural areas, but it’s not a solution for suburban and semi rural areas.

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