STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- This winter, the city Parks Department will take to the skies over Staten Island with a special high-tech device to track deer movements, the first step to managing and monitoring the borough's burgeoning population.
"The survey, called Forward Looking Infrared Radar, uses an infrared camera mounted on a small plane and will measure the temperature difference between the deer and its environment," explained Parks spokeswoman Tara Kiernan.
The plane will climb to 1,000 feet and fly at night, when the temperature difference between warm-blooded animals and the surrounding terrain is the greatest.
"This survey is the first step in developing a management plan for [the] deer population," she added. "The results will be used to establish a baseline population number, which can then be monitored over time to see how populations are changing. The results will also be used in combination with ground surveying to inform a management plan."
And as the number of deer rise, it's becoming clear that the problem is no longer limited to the rural West and South shores of the borough.
For example, last month a deer was blamed for a crash on Arden Avenue that injured a driver and severely damaged two parked cars.
The early-morning accident occurred on the rural, quiet road in Arden Heights, when the driver told police he swerved to avoid a deer that bolted from the woods, across the sidewalk and into the road.
According to Dr. John Maligno, whose parked car was most severely damaged, "The impact was so powerful that my car pushed the parked car in front of me into the woods across the street."
Island drivers need to stay alert, because the borough's growing deer population is on the move -- a majority of the accidents occur in October and December because it's prime mating and migrating season.
State officials, aware of the increasing danger, recently planted six additional warning signs along the West Shore Expressway and ramps.
"If the deer habitat continues to grow, and if the habitat growth is near roadways under state jurisdiction, we welcome the opportunity to work with the communities and local elected officials to place additional signs as needed," said state Department of Transportation spokesman Adam Levine.
In all of 2012, 44 dead deer were removed from Staten Island roads.
By early October, according to the city Department of Sanitation, 34 large deer had already been carted away. Department personnel handle smaller animals, but rely on a Long Island-based private firm -- The Pet Crematory Agency -- for removal of the large ones.
"We're getting more all the time," said a worker at the firm's local office.
Most were removed from areas around the West Shore Expressway, particularly near the Outerbridge Crossing.
But on local roads, it's a different story.
The city Department of Transportation, citing the unpredictability of deer travel patterns, has yet to start placing warning signs.
"The issue is installing potentially hundreds of signs at the large number of locations where deer may or may not be crossing and expecting them to be effective," said city DOT spokesman Seth Solomonow.
The results of the Parks study could be used to determine where signs should be placed on local roads, according to a Parks official.
Sightings are becoming more and more common in North Shore communities.
A deer was spotted recently near the parking lot of Tech Products Inc. on Willow Avenue just off Bay Street.
"We're a sign company, so maybe the deer is trying to tell us something," said Tech Products employee Mary Ann DiNoia of Rosebank. "It just stood around and watched me as I got to my car. We had given it a bowl of water, and then it took off up a one-way street -- it was going the right way."
And just recently, a Sunnyside resident spotted two deer interacting in her backyard.
The number of deer-related collisions in the U.S. has increased by 7.7 percent over the last year, according to the insurance company State Farm. The increase comes after a 2.2 percent decline over the last three years.
Late last month, a young male deer with an injured hind leg was found on the grassy median of the Staten Island-side approach to the Outerbridge Crossing.
And last weekend, one of the creatures suffered a gruesome fate after impaling itself on a fence at the United Hebrew Cemetery, Richmond.
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