By Doug Draper
I recently drove along Buffalo, New York’s Main Street, past its classic Forest Lawn Cemetery, when my wife Mary said; ‘Look over there in the cemetery. There is a deer!’
Best deer in Buffalo's Forest Lawn Cemetery Park. Photo by Doug Draper
She was right. Near one of the main gates of that cemetery, where Buffalo buries its war dead, a lone deer, looking like an adult female, stood inside the wrought-iron fencing. She stood there majestically in the grass-covered snow as I and a few groups of adults and their children approached for a closer look. I ventured closer for a photo and she barely took four or five steps back.
I wondered about this beautiful animal and how she found herself in a cemetery in the middle of a relatively large American city. Did she wonder down city streets and sidewalks to somehow get there, and what will become of her now?
On a Monday, a week ago this March, I called someone from the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) in the Erie County, New York and was told there may now be as many as six or more deer in the sprawling Forest Lawn Cemetery in the middle of that large town. They may have got there by migrating down the shores of rivers and creek watersheds, connecting more rural areas of Erie County with Buffalo’s Delaware Park area that intersects the cemetery.
So could it be possible that deer will become indigenous to a city environment, in a cemetery where, among other notables, a president of the United States, Millard Fillmore, is buried, and where there may be enough grass for them to feed on to survive? Who knows.
My purpose in calling the SPCA was to alert it to the existence of this deer and to ask them to please do everything they could do to make sure the animal does not come to a bad end. I was given some assurance there will be no bad end for this deer and however many others that made their way to an inner-city sanctuary. Let’s hope so.
Let us how who feel on this deer’s strive to survive.
(Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary on matters of interest to residents in our greater Niagara region, and beyond.)
Niagara At Large 
Seeing this deer is a symbol of hope. A lot of work has been done by environmentalists to reconnect and restore habitats and it is paying off. There is more forest cover now in both Ontario and the Eastern United States than during great depression. This is because of deliberate efforts at reforestation, including education of farmers to restore wildlife habitat on their lands. This sort of progress is the subject on my forthcoming biography of Edmund Zavitz, who grew up in Fort Erie and attended high school at the St. Catharines Collegiate. He later reforested much of southern Ontario, causing deer that had vanished to become widespread again. It will be published in August by Dundurn Press
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This cemetery is in the heart of the city of Buffalo. The deer have no where to go. They will be hit by cars on the busy city streets unless the SPCA of WNY can relocate them – but relocate them to where? These beautiful docile creatures are treated as a scourge in the city and no one wants them in their neighborhood. They pay the price of progress.
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Both the article and the comments are of great interest. The photos of this serene, beautiful animal are terrific, too.
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Well, deer are beautiful and it is a delight to see their presence – however, I agree that their demise seems inevitable, if they are not moved. They will most likely get hit by a vehicle, and the vehicle and passengers will be damaged as a result.
It seems to make sense that those in charge of the safety of wild animals need to accept some responsibility and take action to relocate them – or- the city could build a fence all the way around with gated access and share the cemetery with the deer. seems relocation would be best……….
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Deleware Park is a gigantic cemetary, and may very well be a wonderful setting where deer can locate. As I recall it, the park was surrounded by wrought iron gates, which should keep them from straying into the busy streets. I say let them stay, and I bet the other inhabitants will agree with me.
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Having lived in Buffalo for 1 year. I have watched this deer grow, becoming a beautiful 8 point buck. He is a protector of the goslings and geese that spend time there in Forest Lawn. His antlers are begining to grow again as he shed the old ones in mid February. He has been seen trotting behind joggers, and chasing people away from certain areas of the cemetery.
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