Deer are certainly cute and all, but too many of them can make for a real problem. Residents in Roanoke, Virginia, say a growing deer population is destroying gardens, damaging merchandise, and raising the risk of tick-borne disease. Now they want the city to act. Casey Jones, owner of the Townside Gardens nursery in Roanoke, has started a petition asking the city to spend more on deer culling, WDBJ reported, with almost 400 signatures collected so far.
Jones said deer coming down from the woods have been eating the nursery’s plants for two years, destroying hydrangeas and other stock. She said the business loses $500 to $1,000 a week in merchandise when it doesn’t keep up with sprays, granular repellents, and motion-activated deterrents. An eight-foot fence on the back of the property has not stopped the deer, which jump it or walk around onto Franklin Road.
The problem reaches into surrounding neighborhoods as well. Resident Emily Jarrett said it’s not unusual to see 10 or 12 deer together in her yard through spring and summer, eating vegetation they never touched before. She also said she noticed more ticks in her yard and had to deal with a deer carcass decomposing in the woods near her property that the city wouldn’t do anything about…