I Adopted A Deer

I adopted a deer last summer. Or maybe a deer adopted me.

I stepped outside my family’s house in Suffolk County, Long Island to get the newspaper from the driveway. A young fawn — no antlers but standing four feet tall — was grazing on the grass growing between the stones.

I froze in place, as the deer stood between me and the paper’s blue bag. She looked up, initiated eye contact, batted her doey eyes, and then loped slowly through the foliage on the side of the road and made her departure.

Her deep brown eyes showed no fear of being discovered in a residential area. Not a hint of irritation at being interrupted while having her meal. Not a smidge of that famous “deer in the headlights” syndrome that makes such creatures bolt at first contact.

Suffolk County is not alone in this infestation of deer, caused by development infringing on wilderness, as well as climate change limiting their ability to forage in the remaining open acreage. Earlier this year, 25 deer were shot and killed in the 1-mile square Mastic Beach park to thin the herd population. Over the past two years, more than 1,000 bucks on Staten Island have been tranquilized and given vasectomies.

Westhampton Beach is in the midst of a housing boom, and with construction come vehicles, workers, and sensory overload for our furrier residents — whether…