In August, an airplane carrying six officials of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks apparently hit a deer while coming in for a landing at Topeka's Billard Airport. Witnesses on the plane, including the state's big-game director, Lloyd Fox, reported seeing two deer on the runway, then feeling a thud. The plane was only slightly damaged. A search of the area afterwards found no evidence of the victim.
The ironic encounter, although minor, reflects the serious difficulties of controlling deer populations in suburban areas. While this is the first collision of its kind at Billard Airport, deer have been an ongoing problem at Kansas airports for years. Even before the mishap, Fox had been working with some of them to erect fences to keep out deer. He concedes, though, "Deer are extremely effective at going out, under, around, and through fences."
Which is exactly what happened in the San Francisco Bay Area several months ago. The north end of the Golden Gate Bridge runs through the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, where deer are common. A young deer got around the fenced area intended to keep it off the bridge. Usually when this happens, the deer get spooked and turn back, but this one set out across the bridge in the middle of rush hour.
Police immediately held southbound traffic behind the deer and stopped northbound travel in case it darted into oncoming traffic. The deer's daring journey started at 8:50 a.m., and it was safely on the other side 20 minutes later.
Despite the traffic delays, the public response was positive, says Mary Currie, public affairs director for the Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. The spectacle "struck a nerve with everyone, in terms of the humanity it takes to run a bridge through a national park."
