The white-tailed deer has likely won by a nose, after the Senate voted Tuesday to make it Georgia’s official state mammal.
House Bill 70 originally choose the honor for the gray fox, but the Department of Natural Resources requested it be changed.
The bill grew out of a Boy Scout project, after first-graders at Reese Road Leadership Academy in Columbus realized Georgia was one of three states with no state mammal.
According to DNR, some 85 percent of Georgians “feel that it is important that deer exist in Georgia.” Also, deer hunting has an economic impact in excess of $890 million in Georgia, producing $58 million-plus in state and local taxes, and “supporting more than 11,500 jobs.”
Gray foxes, by comparison, are responsible for nuisance complaints, including concerns about children and pets being attacked, and they are associated with diseases such as rabies and distemper. Bobcats and coyotes — the other choices considered by the students — raised similar fears.
Because the Senate made minor changes to the bill, it now goes back to the House for review.
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