Each Deer in Redding Costs Residents $1,870

(Editor's note: The headline has been changed from "taxpayers" to "residents," as the costs stemming from deer, according to the Deer Alliance's report, are taken as an average. The word "taxpayers" could be construed as being misleading. The body of the article has been changed to reflect this as well.)

With Lyme disease, babesiosis, car accidents and more, increasing deer populations pose problems in Fairfield County.

But how do these seemingful timid mammals impact our wallets? According to the Fairfield County Deer Management Alliance, sustains $4,475,399 in deer-related damages each year. David Streit, who chairs the alliance, . 

What does that mean for a 31.5-square mile (excluding water) town?

Each deer trotting through Redding costs residents, on average, nearly $1,870. 

Deer are expensive, non-taxpaying itinerants of Redding

In August 2010, the Connnecticut Deer Alliance Study approximated the annual cost of deer-related damages in Fairfield County towns:

Deer-related damages associated with:

Environment/ Landscape

Motor Vehicles

Tick Control

Tick-Borne Diseases

Total

Cost to Redding

$2,367,986

$1,101,660

$398,547

$607,206

$4,475,399

The 2010 study estimates that with 2,945 households in Redding, these damages cost about $1,520, on average, per family in Redding per year.

Earlier this year, Howard Kilpatrick, of the Connecticut DEEP, said based on survey results, a majority of residents—75.1 percent—favored bow hunting on open space, while 54.4 percent approved of gun hunting and 53.4 percent approved of sharpshooting as well. On open space that is currently not used for deer hunting, 76.7 percent of those who responded to the survey approved of opening those lands for bow hunting, while 57.2 percent approved of opening them for gun hunting and 56 percent approved of opening them for sharpshooting.

Kilpatrick said that should Redding cease all of its hunting programs, the deer population would double in town in seven years. Should Redding want to see its deer population at 12 per square mile, Kilpatrick said, 276 does would need to be killed in each of the next five years. 

Hunting season begins on Sept. 15 and lasts until Jan. 31.