A University of Michigan biologist says Ann Arbor’s public debate over culling deer in the city is missing an important issue.
Christopher Dick is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Michigan. He says the health of Ann Arbor's ecology is being largely ignored in the public debate. Specifically, that losing trees and other vegetation to herds of hungry deer is harming the city.
Dick says one deer can consume 3,000 pounds of plant matter per year. “And it’s usually selectively consumed. It’s the buds, the tender leaves, it’s the flowers.”, he says.
He says losing too much vegetation will harm other wildlife and put the ecological health of Ann Arbor at risk..
Read his article for Bridge Magazine here.
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- Amanda LeClaire is an assignment reporter, and anchor for 89.1 WEMU News. Contact her at 734.487.3363 or email her: aleclair@emich.edu