A couple of months ago, we talked about feeding birds — a good idea when done correctly. Now we are going to talk about feeding deer — a bad idea.

At the present time, we have between 30 and 32 million deer wandering around the United States. On top of that, we steal habitat from them on a daily basis. A sad result is that between Amherst and Clarence, we experience hundreds of vehicle-deer accidents yearly.

On a larger scale, the cost of damages throughout our country is in the billions of dollars. (As a side note, always be vigilant when driving, especially in the early morning and evening hours. This is when deer are most active, moving between feeding and resting areas.)

So why is feeding deer a bad idea? Well, your heart might be in the right place when you feed the local herd. But to begin with, it’s against New York State law. Also, despite your good intentions, it can cause problems for the deer.

You see, deer are “ruminants,” like cows. What this means is that they have a compartmentalized digestive system, which includes the rumen, the first chamber of the stomach. The rumen breaks down plant cellulose before the food returns to the mouth as cud. The microorganisms in deer are adapted to convert native forage to energy, and they are not able to digest commercial feed.

Changing deer forage may result in deer with diarrhea, impaction, rumenitis and worst of all, chronic wasting disease, a contagious and fatal disease.

Plus, if you can keep deer out of your yard, your plants and wallet will thank you.