TENAFLY, N.J. — They are slender, agile, graceful and gorgeous.
But are cougars the answer to the deer over population in New Jersey?
A study by the Conservation Letters Journal says if New Jersey brought back these ambush predators, the Garden State could possibly save $2.4 million and avoid 24 injuries each year caused by deer vehicle accidents.
But residents of Tenafly thought PIX11 was kidding when we asked about bringing back the Cougars!
“That’s a crazy idea,” said Lisa Langan, a dog walker in Tenafly. “Who’s going to protect the cats and dogs?”
According to the study, cougars would be a great choice because they prey on all ages of deer, unlike coyotes or bears, which prey on only the young or weak deer.
But the head of the Sierra Club of New Jersey says bringing in cougars is a terrible solution.
“It will not work,” Jeff Tittel, president of the Sierra Club of New Jersey told PIX11. “New Jersey is too residential for that… and the cougars could go after livestock and pets.”
The way to get rid of all the deer, according to the Sierra Club president, is to stop having manicured lawns with yummy greens that deer enjoy, lawns becoming like a salad bar for deer and instead put deer resistant plants on the lawn and deer resistant whistles on the cars.
“Don’t kill the deer with cougars,” Brenda Garris, a Tenafly resident said. “Just let the deer alone, that’s all.”
A spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said bringing in cougars would never work, because “In New Jersey, you’re never too far from somebody’s home.”
