To the Editor:
Interesting article in the June 24, 2026, Times about Gov. Healey and deer regulations (“Aggressive plan to harvest the herd”). Thank you. Perhaps the governor doesn’t realize the deer are here because of a state program after World War II that introduced and managed deer to give Island hunters a large animal to hunt. That was a successful program, perhaps too successful. Now, in the new reality of ticks and tick-borne diseases, it is time to get rid of the deer. All of them.
The most expensive and least effective plan is more regulations and more government-run programs. The simplest, least expensive plan is to remove all the rules on killing deer. Safety is a big concern for all of us. All the state rules concerning safety should be kept in place, but the rules to protect the herd for the use of the hunters should all disappear. Gov. Healey could make it happen now, today.
No solution to the tick-borne diseases is going to instantly fix the problem. While the experts and the government explore and debate possibilities, the people that live here could at least get a real start on removing the deer as a carrier/host of the ticks.
Chris Murphy
Chilmark