Bucked up: Charlottesville City targets deer of color, protects white deer

Following years of inaction and resultant public complaint, in 2018 Charlottesville City Council instituted a “deer population management program,” to be administered by Blue Ridge Wildlife & Pest Management, an independent contractor overseen by the City.

Last year under this program, 125 deer of color were slain over the course of 11 nights, and 2,850 pounds of brown-deer venison was donated to a local food bank.

A City press release advises that the “culling” will resume on February 18. The contractor again is instructed to kill only deer of color—being given explicit, written instruction to spare all “white” deer.

Charlottesville maintains its color-based ban in spite of the fact that white deer typically face multiple genetic defects, which can lead to a diminished quality of life and measurably reduced longevity.

According to Ed Clark, president and co-founder of the Wildlife Center of Virginia:

“They [white deer] are an unusual sight because they either have multiple physical problems and die early or because of predation. Protecting them would not be doing the deer population any good because it would pass the recessive genes into more herds.”

Judging the intrinsic value of deer based on fur (hair) color—and disesteeming those of darker complexion— seems antithetical to Charlottesville City Council’s quest for “equity,” “inclusion,” and “reparation.”

It sends the wrong message.

Frolicking white deer amidst dead brown ones is just another sign that the longstanding Democrat culture of white supremacy persists in Charlottesville—even in the animal world— despite numerous public statements to the contrary.