Dear Editor:

Friday, Jan. 10 was a great day for a hike at the Botanical Gardens. No one else was there except for a few of the staff, however, Birch Allee and several of the trails showed evidence that quite a few people had hiked the area since the last snowfall.

I could not help noticing, however, that quite a few illegal aliens had also been out hiking. There were deer tracks everywhere and I could not help wondering if the center had decided to invite these folks in during the winter when the trails were not crowded. Their tracks led right up to the Visitor Center front door. Perhaps they were just coming in to renew their winter membership.

We met up with one of the staff who assured us that the deer were not only unwelcome but were becoming a serious problem for the local economy, which relies heavily on the fact that the many plant exhibits are not eaten.

I suggested that perhaps some wolves could be hired to do border patrol, but my idea did not sit too well. Perhaps a more tried and true approach would be to extend some welfare to the deer such as setting out a deer feeding station.

The cost of this would not add much to the price of an entry fee or membership for the summer folks and if the long range plan was to deny the deer a pathway to full citizenship, or even limited winter membership, then once they got used to living on welfare and could be found congregating at the feeding station, they could be captured there and sent back to where they came from.

First, of course, they should be carefully interrogated to learn just where their favorite points of entry were so that border patrol and fencing could be beefed up.

Phil Brooks
Southport