Dealing with deer deaths

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has few good choices when it comes to addressing deer herds in eastern Utah that are threatened by a lack of food. Critical winter range sagebrush has been decimated by drought, grazing, disease and age. Deer that depend on that sagebrush may face starvation.

Feeding the deer could only make matters worse. Chronic wasting disease has been detected in the state's northeast and southeast regions and feedings would bring large numbers of animals together and increase the risk of spreading the disease.

Wildlife officials could permit a bigger harvest of deer in anticipation of another mild winter, which would somewhat extend the supply of available feed. A severe winter might improve the habitat but some deer might not survive the cold and the heavy snowfall.

There seems to be no obvious solution and it looks as if whatever the division does will open it up to ridicule. That's unfortunate, because the division cannot control the weather, readily manage diseases that impact wildlife or control insects that decimate plant life.

The image of wild animals starving to death, which would appear to be the natural order of events, will paint an ugly picture of Utah and its wildlife management. Others will decry expanding the deer hunt, fearing the mass slaughter of animals. While this might appear inhumane, it's a better fate than allowing large numbers of animals to starve to death.

There's no easy answers here, but the prospect of large numbers of deer starving is ugly. Our hope is that the public's understanding of science, range management and wildlife conservation will triumph over the emotions that will be stirred by these events.