You May Be Able To Keep Out NASCAR And Wal-Mart, But Deer Are Another Story

Staten Islanders worry about what everyone would think if they had to put up deer crossing warning signs, but it’s getting harder and harder to ignore:

Yesterday, cops were called to Bulls Head to subdue a frisky deer that had ventured in a backyard on Carreau Avenue, near Signs Road, at about 9:40 a.m.

Eight police officers, including a team of Emergency Service Unit (ESU) cops, tried to corral the deer, but for 20 minutes, the animal proved elusive, according to Advance photographer Hilton Flores, who captured the episode.

. . .

It’s believed that a herd of at least 40 lives in the vicinity of Clay Pit Ponds State Park.

In October 2004, a car smacked into a deer in Travis, killing it — the latest in a series of antler adventures on the borough’s West Shore.

That episode came six months after city officials passed the buck on a controversial traffic issue.

In April 2003, the city Department of Transportation chose not to erect “Deer Crossing” signs — despite increasing evidence a herd of does and bucks occasionally frolics around the Island.

Last January, the DOT said it might reconsider posting such signs on the West and South shores, where the animals have been most frequently seen and where a number of crashes have occurred.

The South Shore’s Community Board 3 advisory panel has also requested the signs. But the city determined the “confirmed sightings are isolated occurrences” and found no pattern of deer crossing Staten Island roads.

At the time, a city DOT spokesman said the agency checked with the state Department of Environmental Conservation and confirmed deer sightings along Arthur Kill Road, Richmond Avenue and the West Shore Expressway. But since the reports covered a wide geographic zone, signs were deemed “inappropriate.”

Over the years, witnesses have sworn they’ve watched deer swim to Staten Island across the Arthur Kill from New Jersey. Some naturalists have estimated that Staten Island is home to as many as 40 deer.