While visiting the Blue Hole state park on the Big pine Key, our group witnessed many forms of wildlife that are native to Florida however one species stood out as something we had never seen before: the Key Deer. These mammals look fairly similar to the white tailed deer that us Northern folk see running all over our area, however these deer are less than half the size of the White tailed species we know. These key deer are only found in the Florida keys which gives rise to their name but not long ago these deer were almost wiped out all together. Along with many other local species, the local key deer population was greatly effected by human encroachment during the mid 20th century. These deer were over hunted or merely just had their environment shrunk due to a growing infrastructure around them, so much so that in 1957 there were approximately 50 organisms left before a refuge was established to help mitigate and reverse the current population trend. These deer were officially placed on the endangered list in 1967 once sufficient evidence was collected that proved humans were having such a negative effect on a native species (crazy right?). Ever since then the key deer population has been on a rise but is still not to the strength it probably once was prior to human involvement.
A quick guide to Safety approach a Key Deer:
- Don't do it. Instead of trying to pet any wild key deer just sit back and enjoy the view from a small distance.
- Do not feed the key deer, they have long survived without humans trying to provide food for them so let the deer do its thing and you do your thing.
- Be vigilant when driving to ensure no key deer are in imminent danger from your south-Florida driving techniques.
Refuge website:
https://www.fws.gov/refuge/National_Key_Deer_Refuge/wildlife_and_habitat/key_deer_main.html
Key Deer information:
https://www.fws.gov/refuge/National_Key_Deer_Refuge/wildlife_and_habitat/key_deer.html
Key deer are so cute! They certainly remind me a lot of the whitetail deer that are so plentiful around my house. It is crazy to see how such a similar animal to a whitetail deer which is densely populated in just about any environment they inhabit can just be on the cusp of extinction due to humans over hunting and human interference with their habitats. We need to use Key deer as a successful case study to learn to better avoid endangering these animals as well as other animals and what to do to help an endangered animal population recover.
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