We may not hear as much about Staten Island’s deer problem as we used to.
But don’t be fooled: the creatures are still among us, despite the city’s program to decrease the population.
A mother and daughter on the North Shore had a very close encounter with a buck last week on their Stapleton street.
Tara Meiners and daughter, Olivia Franke, spotted the deer as they returned home from the 7-year-old’s gymnastics class last Tuesday evening.
“When I went around to open her car door, it was standing right behind our car, just staring at me,” Meiners reported. “So wild.”
The buck was tagged, meaning that it was part of the city’s population-reducing deer vasectomy program.
Meiners said that the deer trotted along Ward Avenue and then turned and headed around the corner and up Austin Place.
Olivia said, “When I got out of the car, I heard my mom say, ‘Come out here and see the deer crossing the road.’”
The 7-year-old said, “The deer was so cute, but he was going where the traffic is. I did not want him to get hurt.”
It’s not the first time that deer have been spotted in the neighborhood.
One resident reported seeing a deer walk up the stairs adjacent to their house, past their front door, and then up the stairs of a house across the street.
A report from the Parks Department listed the estimated deer population at that time as 1,273, a 41% drop from the initial estimate of 2,166.
The counts are based on figures compiled by White Buffalo, the firm in charge of the city’s deer-vasectomy program.