Visiting Bambi in Florida

by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger

24 Nov 2007 04:15 PM

No, not at Walt Disney World.

Head south to the lower Florida Keys and you'll find the National Key Deer Refuge. Established in 1957, its first manager used to leave polite notes on the windshields of cars owned by repeat poachers--that's before he put a few bullet holes in the gas tank or the engine.

Time has not diminished the fervency refuge managers display to protect the diminutive deer in their care. Only now they use more orthodox measures to secure the safety of the endangered Key deer. You can see their tactics first hand when you visit the 8,400-acre refuge yourself.

I have a child who is obsessed with Bambi, so the National Key Deer Refuge is at the top of our vacation destination wish list. The refuge recently celebrated its 50th anniversary (we missed it) and thousands of visitors traveled to the lower Florida Keys to help mark the occasion.

The refuge is filled with mangrove forests, freshwater and salt marsh wetlands, and dense pine forests. Though the main attraction is the adult Key deer. Unlike the big bucks hunters aim for throughout the Midwest, the Key deer are about the size of large dogs, with an average weight of 65 to 90 pounds.

But, if you want to see one in person you have to travel to the Florida Keys because the endangered animals are not found anywhere else in the world. That fact has served as the incentive for more than 90,000 people who visit the refuge each year. While there visitors learn what measures are being taken to move the deer off the endangered species' list.

The Florida Department of Transportation lent a hand in 2003 when it completed a $5.8 million project to install fencing and two vehicle overpasses on Big Pine Key so that deer can safely travel between the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean sides of the Florida Keys Overseas Highway. But the main reason the deer are still alive and available for tourists to take snapshots of is because in 1939 the state banned the killing of Key deer and later opened the refuge. Since the safe haven for deer was established, its population has increased from about 50 animals to a herd of about 700.

Related Articles:

Visiting the Florida Keys

Family Friendly Attractions In Miami

Tampa for Kids

Learn more about Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism.

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