For me, no trip to the Florida Keys would be complete without visiting the Key Deer on Big Pine Key.
I’ve been doing this since I was a little kid and my grandparents had a place on Big Pine. The Key Deer were endangered back then and still are today.
This subspecies of the White-Tail deer has been living in the Keys for hundreds of years, with the first known documentation coming from Spanish explorers in the 1550s.
Because of hunting, habitat destruction and numerous deaths from cars, the Key Deer population was estimated to have been around only 25 back in 1940s, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says. The population has grown to between 700-800 today, but the deer still face the same hazards they faced back then, plus climate change and rising seas, too.
Their modern-day habitat is from Bahia Honda Key to Sugarloaf Key, with Big Pine being the home to most of the population. These deer are little, only about 24-32 inches high at the shoulder and weighing about 55-70 pounds as adults, the National Wildlife Federation says.
They are cute, perhaps too much for their own good. Despite being illegal, some folks stop in their cars to feed the Key Deer, which then attracts them to roads and passing cars – which can contribute their deaths from car strikes.
I was happy to be reunited with these great creatures again, and I even got to see a Key Deer buck – the first I can recall seeing in a long time. He also looked like a pretty old deer.
You can learn more about how to help save the Key Deer here.
