Life and Death on the Refuge

IMG_6895Buck

There are wonderful opportunities living on the refuge among the Key deer and to be able to witness their lives on an up close and personal level. However, all is not sweet on this island during the rut. A dying and injured buck with head and eye wounds and punctures in his body lay in the empty lot next to my house. The Fish and Wildlife Department was called and they immediately arrived to carry him off to the deer cemetery, after tying his legs up and putting him in the back of a truck, where it will probably be euthanized or left to die. Survival of the fittest is played out before my eyes.

 

UPDATE: I learned at the Visitor’s Center that the deer was shot to death.

 

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