Item #: SCP-4968

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Embedded operatives within the New Jersey Department of Transportation are to modify reported deer-automobile collision statistics to within one standard deviation of statewide average.1 A Foundation-owned asset ("Stag Collision Prevention") in New Jersey has installed more than 200 reflective warning signs along roads across the area, and has successfully lobbied for lowered speed limits across SCP-4968-A. Lobbying for a regional ban on motorcycles is ongoing.

In addition, the asset is currently staging an extensive advertisement campaign within ████ and surrounding counties emphasizing careful driving, updated auto safety features, and discouraging the use of small and light vehicles such as motorcycles. Foundation personnel operating within SCP-4968-A are required to operate vehicles with reinforced windows, body plating, tires, and suspension systems.

Captured SCP-4968-C members are to be housed in the Woodland Forested Preserve at Biological Research Site-104. SCP-4968-C members are to be separated from each other and from non-affected Odocoileus virginianus individuals at all times, unless authorized for testing by at least two Level 4 personnel.

Pending Ethics Committee review and ruling, SCP-4968-B affected individuals are not to be terminated unless specific authorization is given. Broadly authorized termination scenarios include culling in line with state hunting quotas, prevention of physical migration outside of SCP-4968-A, euthanization following collisions, and self-defense.

Description: SCP-4968 is the collective designation for several phenomena consisting of or affecting the Odocoileus virginianus (white-tailed deer) population in ████ County, New Jersey.

SCP-4968-A is UE-4968-EX, an approximately 800 km² region consisting of the majority of ████ County, New Jersey, in which recorded collisions between O. virginianus and automobiles occurred at 1000% of the statewide average between 2001 and 2002. Following statistical flagging, the region was assigned Unexplained Location status before the discovery of SCP-4968-B.

Archived: Pre-Reclassification UE-4968-EX

Unexplained Location UE-4968

Location Description: An approximately 800 km² region in which recorded collisions between O. virginianus (white-tailed deer) and automobiles occur at more than nine times the statewide average.

Date of Containment: 2002-03-26

Location: ████ County, New Jersey, United States

Security Protocol: Embedded operatives within the New Jersey Department of Transportation are to modify reported deer-automobile collision statistics to within one standard deviation of statewide average. Foundation-owned assets in New Jersey have installed more than 200 reflective warning signs along roads across the area, and are currently lobbying for lowered speed limits across the area.

The extent of SCP-4968-A may coincide with the territorial range of PoI-4968 (see SCP-4968-C Organizational Hierarchy). Research into this connection is ongoing.

SCP-4968-C "scouts" fleeing observation.

SCP-4968-B is a meme complex affecting O. virginianus within SCP-4968-A that results in deliberate, targeted bodily collisions with moving vehicles. Affected individuals are capable of communicating and coordinating through unknown, presumably anomalous means to observe, target, and attack high-traffic road areas. SCP-4968-B is believed to foster "radicalization" and hostility towards humans within affected individuals, demonstrated by the aggressiveness and high self-mortality rate (95%) of SCP-4968-B attacks.

SCP-4968-C (pending designation GoI-4968) is a social hierarchy, functionally independent of but incorporating preexisting herd groups, dedicated to spreading and maintaining SCP-4968-B and associated behaviors.

SCP-4968-C Organizational Hierarchy2

Role Designation
Number of Observed Members
Sex of Members
Description

"Scout"
10,345
Predominantly (93.4%) female
The most openly-operating, and most observed role. Members engage in target observation, cross-cell communication, and accompany members of other roles during movement and SCP-4968-related activities. Scouts vocalize to group members when aware of observation, and will engage in physical defense of higher-ranked individuals, despite smaller stature and lack of defensive features.

"Attacker"
Est. >12,000
Slight majority (64%) male
Posthumous designation of individuals that have engaged in attacks. Fewer than 5% of individuals in this role survive their initial attack, and if unimpeded by injury or capture, exhibit intense aggression towards nearby humans, particularly crash survivors. Selection is theorized to come from among scout ranks, likely based on time of exposure to and engagement with SCP-4968-B.

"Cell leader"
321
Predominantly (97.5%) male
The larger SCP-4968-C is divided into over 300 smaller cells, consisting mostly of pre-SCP-4968-B herd groups. Cell leaders appear to be central to the coordination of scout activities, consuming information and selecting targets by criteria believed to incorporate traffic volume and forest access. Cell leaders are believed to play a role in the selection of attackers as well, but data regarding this process is extremely limited.

PoI-4968
Est. 1
Male
PoI-4968 is the hypothetical designation for a subject(s) believed to play a central role in the spread of SCP-4968-B and the coordination of SCP-4968-C cells. While no specific individual has been confirmed as PoI-4968, several potential subjects have been identified to date. Extrapolation of PoI-4968's sex is based on known O. virginianus behaviors and observation of independent SCP-4968-C subjects.

Detailed examination of captured SCP-4968-C members has revealed no anomalous properties in brain structure and physiology. Individuals display no abnormal behaviors apart from those induced by SCP-4968-B.

Footnotes

1. Altered collision statistics: https://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/accident/crash_statistics.shtm

2. Number of observed individuals may not be representative of or proportionally correspond to actual SCP-4968-C population. Researchers interested in profile methodology and a case-study for population surveys should consult: Baez, Mabel; Fagliarone, Christa; Hilling, Grace; and Keller, Emilyann, "Quantifying the White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) Population in the Town of Hamilton, New York" (2013). Upstate Institute Student Research. 12.

https://commons.colgate.edu/upstate_student/12