Deer overpopulation: How to keep them out of your yard

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR/Gray News) - If you’ve been seeing more deer than you’d like to, there are steps you can take to keep the animals away.

Deer overpopulation can lead to ruined gardens, dangerous crashes and the spread of tick-borne diseases.

Some steps include making your backyard as unfriendly to deer as possible. That means not feeding them, moving bird feeders out of their reach and scaring deer away when they are nearby.

Deer overpopulation is also tied to the lack of natural predators.

“We lack apex predators. We no longer have native red wolves or mountain lions really here in Virginia, and those are the animals that evolved here over thousands and thousands, millions of years even to control species like deer,” Rockfish Wildlife Sanctuary Executive Director Sarah Cooperman said.

She added that finding ways to reintroduce those animals to areas like in Virginia could be a more long-term solution to deer overpopulation.