2008 Woodie Awards
If you have ever taken a walk down to Carnegie Lake (the man-made lake south of Princeton’s campus) at dusk, chances are good that you encountered a family of deer grazing in the nearby fields. An article in this month’s Smithsonian describes the population explosion phenomenon and discusses a particular means to stop it – contraceptives. But the situation isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. I’d like to see more studies on the effects of these drugs on the animals. It’s fine if they work to hinder fertility but what if they impair the animal’s locomotive or neurological capacities? The Food and Drug Administration considers the drug experimental and as such, female employees are not to administer the drugs to the deer, or otherwise handle them due to risk of sterility. However, it does seem as though injecting deer with the drugs is the most effective way to help them. Putting contraceptives in their food source (a method some think should be explored) sounds like it has far greater potential to go awry should the food fail to be contained within their habitats.
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