Deer cause more deaths in US than sharks, bears, snakes combined

Deer-vehicle collisions are a growing issue not just in the United States, but around the world.

Bonnie Sashin, a retired public relations professional, and her husband had just enjoyed a pleasant Thanksgiving visit and meal with family at her stepson’s home in Fairfield, a quaint town of about 61,000 residents on Long Island Sound in Connecticut, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

By the time they left the 2022 family gathering, the sun had already set, Sashin remembers. They started up their relatively new Subaru Forester SUV and headed to a nearby hotel, choosing to stay the night instead of driving the two-and-a-half hours back to Brookline, Massachusetts, on a full stomach and in complete darkness.

“As soon as we turned the corner, practically out of the subdivision where my stepson lives, I felt something hit the car. It was dark, and I had no idea what it could be. I was just really alarmed,” Sashin recalled. “My husband thought it might have been some kind of animal, so we stopped, and luckily, a kind, civic-minded woman in front of us also stopped. She got out of her car, saw me, and was very nice. She said, ‘Oh, that was a deer.’ 

She also mentioned, ‘It happens all the time around here.’” It turns out that deer-vehicle collisions are not just a problem in southern Connecticut, but a widespread issue across much of the United States and even in other countries. Sashin later realized how fortunate she was not to have been injured or worse in the incident. Even those who are aware of how common deer-vehicle collisions are may still be shocked by the following statistics from a November 2022 study published in Cell Biology: Approximately 2.1 million deer-vehicle collisions occur each year. These collisions result in over $10 billion in economic losses annually. 

They cause around 59,000 human injuries and 440 deaths each year. Kip Adams, chief conservation officer with the National Deer Association, points out that deer are responsible for more American deaths annually than some of the scariest creatures in movies and TV shows—sharks, alligators, bears, and venomous snakes—combined. (For example, there were only two shark attack fatalities in the United States in 2023.) It seems we should be more cautious of Bambi than of Jaws. 

The United States is not the only country facing a deer-related issue. For example, a 2023 study from Scotland’s nature agency, NatureScot, estimated that 700 people are injured or killed each year in deer-vehicle collisions in the United Kingdom. Countries like British Columbia, Japan, Australia, and Germany are also dealing with similar deer-related challenges.

By Naila Huseynova