(no subject)

[the_rck]

I’m really physically worn out. I don’t expect this to get better any time soon, either, because it’s half stress and half scheduling problems that I can’t fix (I can’t go to bed earlier. I can’t sleep later. I can’t nap during the day). I want to finish some of my library books, but my brain starts shutting down when I open a book. I don’t fall asleep; I just stare stupidly at the text, unable to make it make sense.

Cordelia and I had lunch at Totoro today after her appointment. It was more expensive than I expected because she ordered two $9 sushi rolls. I was able to exchange the too small t-shirt that Scott gave me for Christmas for one the right size.

My left Achille’s tendon is really upset with me for walking the three blocks from the appointment to the restaurant and then to Cordelia’s school and back. It had already been cranky because I walked a bit more than a block when we went for bubble tea last night and rather a lot more than that a couple of days ago when we went to Target after some things Cordelia needed urgently.

Due to the appointment, Cordelia missed presentations by the various local high schools that she and her classmates might choose to attend. The school counselor promised to save copies of all the handouts for us, though. I’m sorry for her missing those presentations, but we really needed to get this appointment in as soon as we could manage.

The city has decided to do deer sterilization in an area that includes our neighborhood. We’re on the far edge of the area with parks where they plan to do lethal culling only a block away. Judging by the flyer we got, the sterilization program is considered less risky in areas where people live because the sedative darts don’t go as far. I kind of boggle at the idea of surgically sterilizing deer as it seems pretty time consuming and potentially iffy for the survival of the does that are sterilized. There’s a lot of time involved per doe, too, both surgery and transportation.

Of course, I’m weird according to local community standards by not minding a lethal deer cull (apart from the inconvenience of certain parks being closed from 3 p.m. to midnight for a couple of weeks). Meat from the animals killed in the cull will go to 'a local food bank,' and they’re not talking about wiping out the deer population. We’re in an area without predators big enough to take down a deer, so there are very few options for keeping the population controlled— starvation, disease, and human hunting are really it (well, there’re deer/car collisions, too, but those tend to be very, very bad for whoever’s in the car. Not recommended).

Comments

[kalloway]

Wow, I'm surprised too - I've never heard of a deer sterilization. (I mean, wouldn't it make more sense, if they're worried about human safety, to tranq them and then move them offsite for butchering?)

[the_rck]

As far as I can tell, the reason not to do that is the risk of public outrage. There are a lot of people who really, really object to killing deer and who have put pressure on the city to find 'more humane' options.

I'm not convinced that surgical removal of the ovaries followed by immediate release is really all that humane. I'm a little dubious about survival rates and all of that. Not to mention post surgical pain. That's not a minor surgery.

I think that some folks have this idea that the city can wave a magic wand to make sure that the deer don't over-populate.

[kalloway]

When really, considering the risks of starvation and being harmed/killed accidentally by human due to being overpopulated in a sub/urban area... a controlled culling actually is the most humane option.

*facepalms*

[edenfalling]

People get deeply weird about killing deer. A neighboring town to mine had a running argument over deer control methods for at least a decade -- which at one point, for extra hilarity, detoured into an equally vicious running argument over fence regulations.

Basically, if you can't kill the deer, how do you keep them out of your gardens? Answer: build a huge fence! Then neighbors object to the fence heights -- they were getting up to 8 feet tall -- and try to legislate lower maximum heights. High-fence people shout back something to the effect of, "If you'd just kill the damn deer, I wouldn't need such a big fuck-off fence!" Argument derails right back into fights over the ethics of killing deer. *headdesk*

IIRC, they did try the sterilization method, found that A) it didn't really work and B) it was prohibitively expensive (even the bleeding heart save-the-deer contingent recoiled at the tax increases that would have been needed to fund it), so they eventually settled on lethal culling. Which they should have just done in the first place, if you ask me.

[the_rck]

Last year, my daughter's science class started looking at non-lethal deer control options as a project and then rather abruptly switched to studying invasive and endangered species and general management techniques for them instead. I still harbor the suspicion that the science teacher discovered, to her horror, that non-lethal population control methods really weren't workable and didn't want to have to explain that to twelve year olds.

It's a lot easier to talk to twelve year olds about lethal population control methods for zebra mussels and hagfish and other things none of the kids think are cute.

[edenfalling]

Ha! Yeah, I'd be willing to bet at least five bucks that's exactly what happened.

For what it's worth, I think most twelve-year-olds would cope better with an honest discussion of the often ugly reality of population management than many adults give them credit for, and also it could be a useful lesson in the lack of easy answers to problems that seem straightforward on the surface. But yeah, managing that kind of discussion could get very tricky for a teacher.

[lunabee34]

Deer culling is one hundred percent necessary and humane. And unlike when it happens down here all the meat is going to a food bank? That's awesome.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on the lethal deer culling as long as the animals are eaten. This sterilization program doesn't sound cost effective.

[the_rck]

There are regulations about how close to occupied dwellings hunters can be when shooting deer during a cull. It's something like 150 yards. The legally required distance for sedative darts is much, much less and is actually feasible for a residential neighborhood, but...

I guess that nobody's willing to suggest hitting the deer with sedative darts and then taking them away to kill them. People really, really don't like killing deer. Well, people who haven't had much experience with deer eating their gardens or wrecking their cars don't.

If white tailed deer were even remotely endangered, I'd feel different.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

I ran an e-mail list for years for local people applying to high school, and I've got two kids who have done the rounds, so I'm pretty well-informed on the topic. So I'd be happy to talk about the high school presentations that Cordelia missed, if there's anything you want to know.

[the_rck]

Cordelia mainly needs to talk to some Skyline and Community students to get an idea of what to expect in terms of workload-- both volume and difficulty-- and social interactions and every day expectations. I don't think she cares so much what classes and/or extracurriculars are available.

I think the main thing I want is to completely nail down the logistics of everything between here and the end of college. I want to know, for example, which side of the street the school bus will stop on. The guide for this year doesn't say.

I also want to know the protocols for things like dental appointments. Last year, Cordelia ended up with a bunch of unexcused absences for a while because I came in to get her for her PT appointments and signed her in and out but failed to call the school each time to say that she had a medical appointment. I told them the PT schedule *in writing* before her first appointment, but that didn't make the absences excused either. Also, given the logistics, it would be a heck of a lot easier if, for appointments, she could meet me at the appointment, but I'm pretty resigned to not being able to do that.