Published: June 10, 2009 10:30 am      

Deer woes dog parts of city

Animal Services Board has plenty to chew on at today’s meeting

San Marcos — When the San Marcos Animal Services Advisory Board meets this afternoon, members can expect an earful.

Everything from methods of controlling deer, to possibly banning the sale of animals in parking lots, to a revamped micro chipping proposal are on the agenda for the meeting, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the city’s Activity Center.

Among those in attendance will be Charles and Charlotte Shields, who moved to Willow Creek last fall and, like they would anywhere else, started planting some of their favorite flowers and shrubs.

What they didn’t count on was how much the area’s deer population like them too. Though aware there was a “deer problem,” Charlotte Shields says, they had no idea of its enormity. “Hundreds of dollars worth of plants have been destroyed by the deer that cruise through our property day and night.”

Last month, the Shields and some of their neighbors took their concerns to the city council — one even performing an original song about the deer overpopulation.

“Had we been aware of the magnitude of the deer population here in San Marcos, we probably would not have moved here,” Shields said. “However, since we are residents now, we want to help make our area, and the city of San Marcos, a more beautiful, healthy and enjoyable place to live.”

File under “healthy” the risk that deer pose to motorists, as well as the diseases deer carry that could pass on to people.

As Shields noted, more deer/vehicle collisions occur in Texas than any other state — there were 140 fatalities from such accidents between 2000 and 2007. “People who ride motorbikes are very concerned about hitting deer,” she said. “As I ride my bike in my neighborhood and further up McCarty Road, I am always on the lookout for a deer that may jump out in front of me.”

She also pointed out that deer can carry Lyme Disease, leptospirosis, tapeworm, chronic wasting disease and a variant of tuberculosis. “In the last 15 years there has been an average of 73 cases a year of Lyme Disease in Texas.”

Shields said she, and her husband as well, are willing to serve on a committee to help solve the problem.

According to a city press release, the advisory board will also schedule some public hearings during this afternoon’s meeting.

The board serves as an advisory capacity to the city council. Its meeting is open to the public.