Where the Buffalo deer roam
Forest Lawn staff members and residents living nearby have seen a buck in cemetery
This may sound like the stuff of urban legend: a deer making a permanent home among the dead in Forest Lawn — less than a mile from the hustle and bustle of Gates Circle, the Elmwood Strip and Humboldt Parkway.
But it's true.
Neighbors, Forest Lawn staff members and amateur photographers have captured images of at least one deer that appears to have called the cemetery home in the last year.
In the summer and early fall of 2008, some of the cemetery's frequent visitors — people visiting their loved ones' graves, joggers and bicyclists, walkers and bird watchers — reported seeing a deer.
Forest Lawn officials weren't sure, until staff members saw the deer about a year ago.
"I've seen ... a young, healthy buck, complete with a beautiful set of antlers," said Joseph P. Dispenza, Forest Lawn's president.
One neighbor, living on the Delaware Avenue side of the cemetery, has reported seeing the buck frequently in that area an hour or two after sunset on recent nights. Another runner reported spotting a buck near the Delaware Avenue S-curve at about the same time.
Dispenza said you can drive around for miles and miles and not see the deer, and then see it three times the next day.
Wildlife experts aren't shocked about deer finding their way to Forest Lawn.
"There's no doubt it's an urban area, but at the same time, it's the largest expanse of green space in the area," said Tim Spierto, senior wildlife biologist for the state Department of Environmental Conservation. "That's why they chose that spot."
City dwellers may be more surprised than wildlife experts by deer settling in an urban cemetery.
Those experts cite the ample food, water supply, rolling hills and undisturbed nature of the parklike cemetery.
"It's a habitat island in an urban setting," said Connie Adams, another DEC senior wildlife biologist. "I don't think people realize how adaptable wildlife are living on the fringes of urban and suburban areas."
While there's some debate about whether more than one deer or two are living in the cemetery, wildlife experts strongly believe several deer have been sighted in Forest Lawn.
Spierto mentioned credible sightings of at least one buck and one doe, and he suspects there are more than two deer in the cemetery.
Cemetery officials consulted the DEC about a buck that would on occasion approach people, not doing anything dangerous but making them feel uncomfortable. DEC officials opted not to do anything.
"In this case, as long as the animal has a means of egress, we're not going to come in and remove him," Spierto said.
Spierto's recommendation to anyone approached by the deer?
"Give the deer space, enjoy seeing it and certainly don't provide it with any food," he said. Cemetery officials also cited their policy forbidding the feeding of wildlife there.
Another question: How did the deer get into the fenced Forest Lawn?
Dispenza provided one possible theory. The deer may have come from the other end of Scajaquada Creek, walking through an underground tunnel into the cemetery.
Spierto, though, noted that deer are leery of being surrounded that way, having a tunnel wall over their heads.
"It's way more likely that they wandered through an open gate," Spierto said.
No matter how they entered, and how many there are, Dispenza marveled at their presence.
"It's a real gift to everyone who enjoys Forest Lawn and everyone who has family here," he said. "Our philosophy here is to surround the dead with the living, so that the dead are never forgotten.
"Forest Lawn was built around the beauty of nature," he added. "What could be more beautiful than the hand of God, as seen through nature?"
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