When the deer eat the award-winning roses
Going back to the 1940s, it was an unusual sight to see deer in Denmark. The population of our smallest deer was only about 1/6 of what it is today and it was therefore rare to see deer in the nature unless you yourself actively sought them out. However, many farmers started to sow winter crops in the fields and it meant that suddenly there was far more food available for the animals during the winter, which caused the level of winter mortality to decline significantly. Particularly between the years of 1987 and 1991, the population increased explosively and although the population dynamics has levelled off, it is still increasing to this day.
But even though far more food is now available for the animals, the amount of habitats has not increased. In fact, it is the opposite. This means that the animals are living in hard-pressed nature areas and thus through necessity close in on the cities, which very often mean that they end in conflict with the human population. Because when the animals wander around the gardens, they like to eat everything they come across. Especially roses and tulips apparently taste good and it is not unheard of that people get up in the morning to look into a garden where the flowers and flower buds are missing on all the plants.