Why is New Jersey so hellbent on reducing Black Bears every Fall(and Coyotes year round) when there are just too many deer in the Garden State.............Bears and Coyotes are both opportunistic predators of fawns (and both carnivores can and do take adult deer--especially in Winter).................You strip the carnivores and the result is that nature picks up the slack with diseases that kill the deer................I for one feel that carnivores are preferable to disease as population control agents............This keeps the herd on its toes and afraid of staying in on spot too long(which minimizes the denuding of our forests) versus allowing deer densities to mushroom to the point of overcrowding which in any population of living creatures,,,,,,,,,,breeds contagious diseases that kill

Disease reducing NJ deer population

TRENTON, N.J. — State wildlife officials say a disease has killed hundreds of deer across New Jersey during the past two months, thinning the herd in at least six counties.

Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease, or EHD, has resurfaced in one of the most significant outbreaks in state history, though it has subsided in recent weeks.

But officials tell The Star-Ledger of Newark that there's nothing they can do about the illness, which is spread by tiny bugs. They note that EHD has no effect on humans and can't be transmitted through handling or consuming infected deer meat, and it's rarely contracted by most common household pets — such as dogs and cats.--they can do something about it.........(crowding conditions breed disease,,,,,,,,,carnivores prevent crowding of deer--blogger Rick)

Since early August, it's killed deer across a swath in the west-central part of the state. Nearly all reports have come from two regions — Morris, Union and northern Somerset counties and Mercer, Hunterdon and southern Somerset counties.

It's unclear what the illness' long-term impact could be, but officials say the state's deer population of roughly 114,000 shouldn't be affected too badly. They also note the disease's death toll is minimal compared with the estimated 64,000 deer killed in New Jersey by hunters in a given year.

Experts say EHD is fairly common and returns every few years, but rarely strikes as hard and wide as it has this year.Two of the state's worst outbreaks came in 1999 and 2007. EHD fanned across 10 counties in 2007, and in 1999 the disease was blamed for the deaths of more than 4,000 white-tailed deer in the Salem County area.