As autumn settles
over Joplin, the woods come alive with color, and the leaf litter crunches
underfoot. It’s the season of hikes, backyard bonfires, and long walks through
tree-lined trails. But if you find a tick after brushing past fallen leaves or
tangled debris, don’t rush to blame the deer.
Debunking the Lyme Disease Excuse: Why
Joplin’s Urban Deer Harvest Doesn’t Hold Up
When the Joplin City Council approved the urban deer harvest ordinance,
one of their loudest justifications was public health: reducing the risk of
Lyme disease. But here’s the truth Joplin has no confirmed cases of Lyme
disease. Not now, not in the past 20 years. According to 101 The Eagle’s regional report, the only
Missouri counties with documented Lyme disease are Lewis, Clark, and Pike all
in the northeastern corner of the state, far from Joplin.
So why are we killing deer in the name of a disease that doesn’t exist
here?
The Science They Ignored
Let’s break down the biology:
Deer do not carry Lyme disease. They are not
competent reservoirs for Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes
Lyme. Biology Insights explains this clearly deer may
host ticks, but they do not infect them.
Ticks don’t get infected from deer. They get infected
from small mammals like mice and shrews.
Deer don’t infect humans. Lyme disease is
transmitted through the bite of an infected tick not through deer contact.
In fact, deer are more like highways for ticks than disease factories.
Adult ticks feed and mate on deer, yes but deer don’t pass the bacteria to
ticks, and they don’t show symptoms of Lyme disease themselves. Forbes also breaks this down, showing how deer
tolerate the bacteria without becoming sick or infectious.
🧼 Grooming and Tick
Removal
Here’s something else the ordinance ignores: deer groom each other.
They remove ticks through mutual grooming. Natural behavior helps reduce tick
loads without human intervention. And even if a tick drops off a deer, the odds
of it crawling across a yard and biting a human are slim.
Real Risk Comes from Rodents
If Joplin officials were serious about Lyme disease prevention, they’d
focus on:
Rodent control, since mice and
chipmunks are the true reservoirs of Lyme
Public education on tick checks and
repellents
Habitat management, not herd
destruction
Instead, they’ve weaponized a misunderstood disease to justify a
controversial ordinance.
What’s Really Going On?
Let’s call it what it is: a public relations strategy, not a
public health measure. By invoking Lyme disease, the city cloaks its deer
culling in the language of safety and science without the data to back it up.
This isn’t just misleading. It’s dangerous. It erodes public trust,
misinforms residents, and threatens the integrity of Joplin’s wildlife
advocacy.
Here’s a strong, emotionally grounded disclaimer that honors your
long-term stewardship and positions your voice with authority and clarity:
Author’s Disclaimer: A Lifetime of Observation
Since 2004, I have been actively observing, photographing, and
documenting a small sanctuary herd of whitetail deer in southwest Joplin,
Missouri. This is not casual wildlife watching it is a longitudinal study
shaped by daily patterns, seasonal shifts, and over two decades of firsthand
data.
I was asked in 2010 by Martin at Animal Control to monitor this herd, let him know if it needed to be culled and while he may have retired, I never stopped watching. What began as a civic
duty has become a once-in-a-lifetime study. I have witnessed behaviors, herd
dynamics, and ecological interactions that few others have ever seen let alone
recorded.
From grooming rituals and fawn development to sanctuary migration and
urban adaptation, my documentation reflects a depth of understanding that
qualifies me, without hesitation, as an expert in this specific herd and its
habitat. These deer are not just subjects they are part of a living archive
that continues to teach, challenge, and inspire.
Any claims made in this article are grounded in direct observation,
photographic evidence, and years of pattern-based research.
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