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KEY DEER CLICKUP
Photograph by Joel Sartore
Key deer dilemma: encroachment

Key deer, only about two feet (0.6 meter) tall at the shoulder, occur only in the lower Florida Keys, and are a subspecies of the white-tailed deer. The remaining key deer (an estimated 300) enjoy their own refuge, the National Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key, but must contend with increasing encroachment of roads, development, and traffic. Harassed by dogs, driven out of their habitat by land-clearing for homes, the deer often wander onto busy highways, especially U.S. Highway 1, which traverses the refuge; last year cars killed 66 of them.

“They sleep under people’s houses,” says assistant refuge manager Michael McMinn. “They’re becoming urban deer. They’re cute as hell, and people feed them. They run up to cars when they see one slow down.” The future? “The secret to survival is habitat, habitat, habitat.”


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