The Asbury Park Press recently wrote an article about the use of GonaCon, which is a drug that is supposed to prevent does, along with other animals, from becoming pregnant.

This sounds like a good idea on the surface. New Jersey has a ‘problem’ with deer, we have been expanding into their habitat, so now there are too many. My concern with deer is that they carry deer ticks, which are believed to transmit Lyme’s disease. The larger the population of deer, the larger the population of deer ticks. In turn, this increases my chances of getting bit by a deer tick carrying Lyme’s disease.

Deer hunts have been used to control the population of deer, and other animals, for a long time. I don’t particularly have a problem with hunting, as long as the animal is used, not just killed for sport and hung on a wall. It is an danger to many outdoor enthusiasts though, when trying to use the outdoors during hunting season. Another issue with using hunts to control animal population is that some of the population lives in areas were the human population is too high to safely hunt. This is where the contraceptive drug would work best. Additionally, according to the USDA, GonaCon alone cannot control the deer population, and hunting would still be needed to control the numbers in areas less populated by humans.

I think research and development of additional techniques to control populations of animals is a good idea, as long as it is regulated properly. The use of any type of contraceptive would need to be strictly regulated and controlled. The side effects could potentially be disastrous, the worst case being the devastation of an entire species. The Humane Society of the United States has been developing another type of contraceptive. I this article, the HSUS is using it on Fire Island, NY and they are aiming for a 10% birth rate. That seems too low to me, but I’m not an expert on the subject. I’m on the fence about this, I think the intentions are well placed, but I’m worried about the execution. What do you think?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 1:35 pm and is filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.