The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1951-06-07
CAN WE SAVE THE KEY DEER"

from the nearby mainland. so
that variant may never nave
developed. In witness Of this,
there are few deer on Key
Largo today that appear to be
identical with the mainland race.
In the earliest times of mans
occupancy, hunting pressure was
apparently heavier on the Lower
Keys than on the upper group.
fernando d'Escalante Fontaneda,
the Spanish youth who was cast
ashore on the keys in l545 and
lived among the savage CaluSaS
for seventeen years, spoke in
his Memoirs of many deer" and
mentioned the Indian settlement
on the Islands OF Cuchiyaga,"
which is Interpreted as meaning
the Lower Keys. The botanist ].
x. Small wrote, "On the lower
Florida Keys, where game
abounded, man left his mark
The upper Florida Keys did not
offer a hunting ground for the
red man or much vegetation in
the wav of subsistence, so he
passed them by-and their ham
mockS still remain to show his
little interest in those islands. .
There are a few kitchen middenS
ON Key Largo and Plantation
Key, but these could have been
merely casual camping places for
CaIusas on fishing expeditions.
1t is well known that the abort
gines set fire TO hammocks to
facilitate their primitive means
of hunting. AS with the Ever
glades Keys, probably the larger
Of the Lower Keys were once
covered with hardwood ham
Knocks. similar to those that can
still be seen on upper Key Largo
and on Plantation Key Success
sive fires set by Indian hunters
destroyed the humus and ex-
posed the honeycombed rock,
and the elements did the rest.
Hardwoods were finished. Only
the relatively fireproof slash or
Caribbean pine and the saw pal
metto were able to thrive. II is
jim this habitat, surrounded by
fringes of buttonwood and man
grove forest, that the remnants Of
the little Key Deer survive to-
day.
1t has been suggested that
these pygny deer may have been
introduced from the West Indies
by settlers, but the native deer of.
Cuba is a larger animal than the
Key Deer And it cannot be over
looked that Fontaneda found deer
apparently ON the
Lower Keys. in the mid-six-
teenth century. and there were
no white settlers until much la
ter. It seems more likely that
this diminutive race has survived
here since early times, attaining
their present stature and charac-
teristics through the slow and
devious processes of natural Sc
lection.
1t also seems likely that these
little animals would not have
needed many special adjustments
to live in this environment Last
summer Jack Watson found a
great many water holes, fresh
enough to drink from if you are
not particular about a strong al
gal flavor, and fresh enough to
support cattails and saw grass.
There were also surprising
number of alligators-the only
examples of this reptile south of
the Everglades, tThe saltwater
habitat of Florida Bay and the
Upper Keys is not the us. home
Of the alligator but of the Ameri-
can crocodile,) Evidently these
tiny deer have survived in that
environment for many thousands
Of years and continue to do so,
Even after the needless shooting
of the last two or three genera
tons. That they are now in
danger of extinction Is not due to
the inadequacy of their habitat.
1t is the result of shooting, run
ming with dogs, losses on the
Overseas Highway where a steady
toll is taken by speeding cars,
and the ever-present threats OF
fire and expanding real estate
developments.
There may be no more than 80
of these toy deer alive today, but
there is still a chance of saving
them. Wide publicity of their
plight, in recent months. has
aroused public opinion in the