DOE OR DIE ON STATEN
Deer-danger furor
Talk about passing the buck. Hundreds of horny deer will rampage across Staten Island roads when rutting season begins in October, borough officials warn — and the city hasn’t done a thing to prevent it.
“I’m sure the lack of urgency on the part of city agencies will change the instant a deer . . . takes the life of an innocent motorist,” Borough President James Oddo said.
Surveys found the number of whitetailed deer on the island exploded from 24 in 2008 to 793 last year, and it is likely more than 1,500 now, said restoration ecologist Kevin Heatley.
Heatley, a former Parks official, last fall helped launch the city Interagency Deer Task Force, made up of city, state and federal agencies, to curb the overpopulation, but critics say it has failed to grab the deer by the antlers.
“The environmental agencies haven’t taken it seriously enough,” said Assemblyman Joseph Borelli. “We didn’t expect an overnight solution, but there’s not even a plan to make a plan.”
Experts say the deer will be more apt to run into the roads during mating season.
“Every day you’re not controlling the herd, you’re putting the public at risk,” Heatley said.
Sanitation crews have picked up 70 deer carcasses off Staten Island roadsides so far this year, nearly double the 34 removed in 2013.
A fawn tried to cross the sixlane Staten Island Expressway, and a city bus killed a deer on busy Hylan Boulevard in March.
Still, the city Department of Transportation refuses to set up “deer crossing” signs.
“Research has shown that deercrossing warning signs do not reduce deervehicle crashes,” a DOT spokeswoman said.
The DOT said posts on social media and a few roadside message boards will to warn drivers this fall.
The Parks Department said the task force has been meeting to “draft a communications plan.”