In Morgan’s Point Resort, white-tailed deer have been rooting around trash cans.
“They’re curious animals and they probably smell fruit or vegetables,” said Capt. Fred Churchill of Texas Parks and Wildlife. “They’re just being curious and seeing what it is.”
Churchill said living in Morgan’s Point Resort comes with the expectation there will be an abundance of wildlife. He said Texas Parks and Wildlife has offered the city solutions to reduce the number of overpopulated deer.
“The citizens aren’t too receptive to it,” he said.
Churchill advises residents to put tight lids on their trash cans. He said people with potent chemicals should be especially careful.
“They nibble on this, that and the other,” he said. “They take small bites and if it doesn’t taste right, they won’t eat it, but if you had some very potent chemicals it would be harmful to them.”
According to Churchill, the abundance of residents feeding deer is causing overpopulation. He said other cities that allow deer feeding have experienced the same thing.
“Until they ban the feeding of deer in Morgan’s Point there is going to be a population problem,” Churchill said.
Churchill said feeding the deer makes them more comfortable around humans and increases the population to more than the environment can sustain. The deer are more likely to do things residents don’t want - such as overturning trash cans - when they are part of a high-density population.
“They will continue to eat your plants and stuff like that,” he said.
Randy Dixon, Morgan’s Point Resort police chief, said all wildlife will get into trash cans without a lid, but birds, raccoons and opossums are the most common culprits.
He said although the city doesn’t have any laws against feeding the deer, they discourage people from feeding them because it is unhealthy for the environment.
