From Deseret News archives:
Deer, antelope no longer play in Dugway village
With assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, workers used a helicopter and all-terrain vehicles Friday to herd the animals out of Dugway's English Village.
"They're pretty tame — it's their home," said Dugway spokeswoman Paula Nicholson.
People who live on the Army base — which has at least 800 residents — are told not to feed the animals, but if someone watered their lawn, any standing water remaining would become watering holes for the deer, according to Nicholson.
An estimated 220 deer and at least 70 antelope were relocated to an area just outside the base, according to Sgt. Major Tom Baron. About 30 stubborn deer and less than five antelope remain in or around the village, where about 1,500 people work during the week.
Officials said none of the animals were injured or killed during the move, the cost of which was uncertain on Friday.
In addition to reducing property damage caused by the animals, Dugway officials said they were moved "to avoid any possibility of human health concerns due to animal wastes." Baron coaches a children's soccer team on the base, and he saw children running around and sliding in deer feces.
Also, the deer and antelope have virtually nothing left to eat in the English Village. Baron said he recently has seen evidence of deer stripping pine trees as far as they can reach, which means the better food on the base, like sage and grasses, has become scarce.
Antelope, which don't interact as closely with humans as the deer, have caused more of a threat to human safety, and people driving at night on the base have had close encounters with or actually hit some of the animals, Baron said.
Last spring about 100 deer were driven out of Dugway for the same reasons, but they wandered back and even dug under a fence to regain entry to the village, according to Nicholson.
Those that choose not to return to the base have a "fairly good" chance of survival, said Tom Becker, a state wildlife biologist. He predicted many will return before Dugway workers have installed two cattle guards at the main entry and exit points used by the animals.
"I imagine there will be quite a few of them hanging around during the wintertime," Becker said. "This is their natural grazing place."
After the cattle guards are in, making it difficult or impossible for the animals to return, Becker said the plan is for another mass move and to tag the ears of some animals and place radio collars on them to monitor their behavior and mortality rate.
E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com
