ANACONDA - This mulga pine should be well over 10 feet tall by now, but Anaconda resident Chris Marchion said the urban deer keep eating at it, and it’s a problem a lot of people in the Smelter City are finding. And the city has a plan to deal with the problem, but it’s still a divisive one.
WATCH: Anaconda Tackles Urban Deer Dilemma, Opts for Non-Lethal Approach
“Every vegetation, anything that they like, as far up as they can reach, through the winter, they’ll just eat everything,” said Chris Marchion, an Anaconda resident and Urban Wildlife Management Task Force member.
Anaconda’s Urban Wildlife Management Task Force recently voted 6-3 in favor of not culling deer, or, not deliberately trapping and killing the animals in the city.
“The mule deer population across the state of Montana has depleted so badly, and I see here we got this little group of deer. I think we should save them,” said Task Force Chairman Kurt Wyant.
Those who voted against the plan, like Marchion, said the deer in the city are sickly and euthanizing them is the most humane thing to do.
“Last year, I had three deer that I found dead in my yard. One of them wasn’t dead. It laid there for hours until it died,” said Marchion.
Many citizens find the deer a menace.
“They eat the trees, they leave a mess everywhere, I mean, they run right out in front of you. We need to do something about them,” said Anaconda resident Jim Johnston.
Under the new plan, people are encouraged not to feed the deer.
“We want to slow the traffic down, raise your bird feeders, if you can, fence your flowers, all kinds of little things,” said Wyant.
Wyant estimates there are between 120 to 180 deer in town. He credits reclamation work that is revegetating the hills around Anaconda will help move the deer out.
“They’re located this food source, and, like Smelter Hill, we’ve seen big piles of mule deer up there now, so we’re hoping they’ll drift out of town,” he said.
