access to their boats and access to open water. These canals can be death traps for the deer. During the rutting season, the bucks sometimes chase the does into the canals where they drown.

Tourists often ask why the deer aren't fenced in for their protection. Scientists reply that to remain healthy, the deer must be allowed to roam freely through their habitat in order to find appropriate food.

Dogs also place the deer in danger. Big Pine Key has a leash law that is strictly enforced. Even small dogs pose a danger to the tiny deer fawns. Although they don't realize it, well-meaning tourists also threaten the deer. They often stop along the highway or the island's side roads and coax the deer to their cars in order to take pictures or to feed them. This activity harms the deer because it coaxes them into traffic and also because tourist snacks tend to undermine their health. The deer's healthful diet consists of red, black, and white mangrove leaves, thatch palm berries, and over 150 other species of plants found on Big Pine Key. Laws backed up by heavy fines discourage tourists from feeding the deer, but many tourists passing through the Keys don't know of those laws until they've already seen the small Bambi-like creatures, stopped for a closer look, and shared their potato chips and marshmallows.

You may wonder how many deer live on Big Pine Key and if the herd is increasing or decreasing. It's difficult to count creatures that roam at will and such counts are only guesses. But today scientists from Texas A & M University estimate that there are 600 or more deer now on the refuge. These scientists and other environmentalists find this a reason for rejoicing, but not everyone loves the toy-size deer.

Local residents dislike having the deer eat their garden flowers, shrubbery, and vegetables. Also, local residents sometimes resent the 30 m.p.h. speed limit on the island's side roads, especially on Key Deer Boulevard, the main road that gives access to stores, banks, churches and other places of business. Some members of the business community also resent the deer because the concern for their well being has caused a building moratorium on the island and that restricts island commerce and helps maintain a rural atmosphere on Big Pine Key.

Visitors to the Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key can learn more about the miniature deer. To help protect thedeer population the Refuge brochure suggests tourists and environmentalists to take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints.