Exploring Deer Culling as the Best method of Deer Population Check

Topic 

Exploring Deer Culling as the Best method of Deer Population Check

Instructions 

Study Questions:
(1) What is the moral relevance of the fact that humans have encroached on deer’s natural habitat?
(2) When, if ever, do benefits to humans outweigh harms to non-human animals like deer?
(3) Is culling the most humane way to address overpopulation problems? If not, what is it?

Answer Preview 

Reports of human-deer conflicts have grown exponentially and in reality, it is hard to pinpoint one reason for it. The basic definition of human-deer conflict is that it is the situation that arises when action by humans or deer has an adverse effect on the other. The challenge for this definition is in the interpretation of what is really adverse. Running into a deer on the highway can have adverse financial effects on the human in terms of a damaged automobile, some accidents might result in physical bodily injury due to severe collisions. If animal presence makes one human uncomfortable just by their presence, this also qualifies as a conflict. Managing these conflicts is the challenge more so because, as it is easy to manage wildlife, the opposite can be said of humans. Animals are easy to manage as they respond to stimuli quite predictably. When there is adverse negative effects on humans, it can be said that deer culling benefits humans more than it does on deer.

Word Count: 750