Matt Weaver (left), an employee of the National Key Deer Refuge, and
Brett Johnson, a student at Texas A&M University, release Peggy to her new home on
Little Pine Key. | Matt Weaver (left), an employee of the National Key Deer Refuge, and
Brett Johnson, a student at Texas A&M University, release Peggy to her new home on
Little Pine Key. |
The Florida Keys' endangered Key deer took a small step from the path to extinction last week.
Early Saturday, three of the deer were moved from their home on No Name Key to Little Pine Key in what may be the most innovative experiments on the deer in recent history. Called a "translocation" project, it's an offshoot of a three-year research project being conducted by Texas A&M University doctoral candidate Roel Lopez.
"The three deer were part of a family group," said Lopez. "I found them together [Saturday] morning. It was pretty cool."
Lopez said the move, if successful, is one way of ensuring survival of the species.
"The name of the game is trying to establish a second population," said Lopez. "Natural and artificial challenges are prohibiting natural dispersal. [This is] like not putting all of your eggs in one basket.' "
But moving deer from their home territory is not a plan that came easy. Lopez said they "tangled with it for a long time." Of particular concern was tampering with a particular deer's life, he said.
Lopez is best known for his efforts to get an accurate count of the deer population. Lopez's study, the first in-depth study in 30 years, has revealed a herd of about 500 on Big Pine Key, 100 on No Name and about combined population of about 150 on various other islands.
It also revealed that there's likely plenty of water and food on the 700-acre Little Pine, which is northeast of No Name, for more than the existing 10 to 15 deer herd on that island. That, said Lopez, is why Little Pine was selected.
National Key Deer Refuge biologist Phil Frank called Little Pine "one of the few untouched ecosystems" in the Keys,
The refuge has been working closely with Lopez on the project. In fact, they had initially considered moving deer to Sugarloaf and Cudjoe keys, which have an estimated population of only about five deer each, said Frank.
Over the next four months, Lopez hopes to move a dozen deer to offshore islands. But it all depends on how the first three do. Since this hasn't been done before, it's not known how the deer will react or if they'll try to swim home to No Name Key, he said.
"We are planning to walk into the translocation slow," he said. "The next releases may be I about a month. The plan is to see what happens to the first three deer released."
Lopez chose does from the same family group for the first relocation program. His study of the deer has indicated that does are less adventurous than bucks.
"They tend to have a smaller home range when they're pregnant," said Lopez.
They're also, once fawning season approaches, less likely to wander far. He's also hoping that the new fawns will "imprint" on their new homes and stay there.
Lopez said and refuge staff will closely monitor the first three does before moving any more.
Each of the three deer moved to Little Pine on Saturday is wearing a radio transmitter and will be monitored daily, he said. And "if it doesn't work, we'll stop," he said.