By Tasnim Oyshi
Editorialist
When you step onto the College’s campus in late August, one of the first sights that welcomes you is of the well-known and loved deer. It can feel overwhelming to begin your college journey or to come back for another semester after three months, but seeing the carefree deer roaming around campus is always a highlight.
While it is nice to have the ability to see deer up close, this means that our deer are relatively unafraid of humans. The deer can’t necessarily know better when it comes to getting too close to people, which can lead them into dangerous situations.
Within the past week, students at the College have witnessed an injured deer across campus. On Sept. 16, a Campus Alert was sent to student emails about the wounded animal. The email reported that many people have seen and informed Campus Police about the “severely injured buck near Green Hall.”
“We are working directly with local New Jersey Fish and Wildlife officials, who will be on campus Thursday, Sept. 17, to evaluate the buck and determine the most compassionate course of action,” the email stated.
In addition, students were encouraged to not approach, touch or feed the buck and to give wildlife officials space when they arrived on campus. According to Emily Dodd, a digital content editor for the Office of Communications, Marketing, and Brand Management and spokesperson for the College, “The officers tranquilized the deer and removed it from campus for assessment. After determining that the deer would not be able to survive in the wild, New Jersey Fish and Wildlife officers humanely euthanized the deer.”
Students have called Campus Police about the deer several times throughout the week, so it is concerning that the College took this long to take action. There hasn’t been any reports on how long the buck has been hurt for. Within the time that necessary attention has not been delivered, however, the animal has been suffering.
While an injured animal seems like enough of an emergency to get someone on campus as soon as possible, it’s possible scheduling a time for the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife officials to come by was difficult to figure out. Regardless, there is no doubt that there should be more effort put into making sure the wildlife in the area don’t get hurt in the first place.
The unfortunate situation with the young buck is not the first instance of a deer getting hurt in the area, with a deer being found two years ago having been struck by an arrow. There is an overpopulation of deer in this area and that makes it much easier for them to be harmed by potentially stepping on the road at disastrous times or getting too close to humans.
The College is reportedly working with Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space to restore the surrounding ecosystem, which can include planning for ways to get the deer population under control, according to Community News.
This, however, does not change the fact that the deer are currently unprotected and can often be at risk. The College should be more committed to making sure that hurt animals get the proper care as fast as possible and proactive in their attempts to keep deer out of danger.
The College’s relationship with the campus deer runs long and can almost feel sacred with how much the wild animals seem to trust the people going here. The College’s official Instagram account occasionally posts pictures of them and there’s even a non-affiliated Instagram account, @deeroftcnj, that posts student-taken pictures of the deer.
The deer on campus are a part of nature and it’s the College’s responsibility to protect them whenever possible. The College should take measures so that campus deer aren’t put in danger by the environment they create.
