Fleet-footed Fugitives From Census Takers — El Cerrito Deer

We burned up the phone lines on this one.

The California Department of Fish and Game doesn't track this number or even have working estimates.  The East Bay Regional Park District doesn't track this number either. Experts at the University of California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology have done extensive studies, but never of deer and never any local animal census.

Contra Costa County Animal Control officials don't track the number of deer, or of any other creature for that matter.  Animal control officers might help remove an injured or dead deer, but now with the budget cutbacks, officers respond only if a carcass is considered hazardous.

In fact, the only way an individual or group could accurately answer this question is by individually tagging each and every deer within the El Cerrito city limits.

So, the short answer to this one is this: nobody knows.

We did discover why it seems like there's an increase in the local deer population, however.

Deer, like every animal, follow their food. In the fall, when the high hills are brown and barren of succulent plants, deer head for greener hills closer to populated areas.

"People are probably more aware of deer right now in their neighborhoods, because we're in the dry part of the year. Everything the deer eat higher up is drying out," said Susan Hackly, wildlife rehabilitation director at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek.  "What happens is we all water our gardens and have nice roses and succulent bushes and plants in our landscaping. We make it a very nice, attractive place for them to come and eat."

Deer populations are also at their highest now because young fawn are coming into their own and the winter die-off has yet to come, she said.

Added Heckly: "Once it starts raining then they move to the safety of more secluded areas."