Harold Nugent

Harold Nugent is a teacher. With a PhD in linguistics, he was a professor at the University of New Hampshire and taught for 30 years, before retiring a decade ago. After moving from one of the most northern states in the country to the southern tip of the southernmost state, he is still teaching. He now teaches people to live among the animals in four National Wildlife Refuges in the Florida Keys.

Speeding and Feeding You love the key deer - they are so cute - how could you not? They are so small (less than three feet high at the shoulder, and weigh less than eighty pounds) and are found nowhere in the world, but on islands around Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys. So you can't resist getting a peek at one, and you drive through the National Key Deer Refuge on a clear, late afternoon, hoping to see one. You are lucky - for some reason, these deer are not afraid to wander out by the roadway. So you park your car, get out and approach them. Wonderful, they are not afraid of you! "Oh, wait until they hear about this back home - get the camera!" You try to pet one of these beautiful, baby-sized creatures, but it is shy. "Darn!" You get some crackers out of your car and use them to lure the bucks. They're so cute! One eats right out of your hand! "Did you get that on video?" You are such an animal lover, and that was a great experience! You will remember it for a long, long time. The next morning, you are at a restaurant, having breakfast. The waitress is in a somber mood. She has lived here all her life and loves the key deer. "We lost another deer last night," she tells you as she pours your coffee. "Crazy people. They stop on the road and feed the deer, and the deer learn to wander out in the roadways. Somebody hit one last night." You do love animals, and you soon realize the peril you put them in, and as you finish your grits, you vow to never, ever feed wild deer - or any wild animal - again.

Nugent is Chairman of F.A.V.O.R. a wildlife refuge friends group which raises awareness and coordinates volunteer efforts for the refuges of Crocodile Lake (near Biscayne Bay) Key West (in the Dry Tortugas) the great white heron (in the lower keys) and the key deer.

Since he lives in the key deer refuge, he gives it his greatest attention. The worst problem in this area is from people feeding deer, which not only ruins their diet, but entices them out of their refuge and into roadways and public land. This makes them vulnerable to dogs, poachers, and cars, all of which are higher on the food chain than they are. "Eighty thousand people come by my house each year," he says. "I give them a pamphlet before they even think about feeding a deer."

A subspecies of the Virginia white tail deer, key deer arrived in the lower Florida keys thousands of years ago, when you could still walk between here and the mainland. They live on several islands, but mostly on Big Pine Key. They are good swimmers and they can drink the brackish water so common here.

At last count (1998) there were 625 key deer, a record high since hunting brought the subspecies' to near extinction in the 1940's (there were less than 50.) Nugent is not satisfied with only having a large population, he wants to ensure they will stay in such great numbers. This may be a problem, as the does cannot breed until their third year. Also, researchers suspect much inbreeding, indicated by a lack of twins in the herd.

The 64 year-old Nugent wears a hearing aid and talks quietly, looking at his feet much of the time, as peaceful as the deer he protects. But he gets his point across clearly. He researches problems in depth, and he develops an effective campaign to deliver a message. Through his efforts, the F.A.V.O.R. group has helped the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service protect these four important refuges, with volunteer coordination, refuge clean-ups and public awareness. Harold Nugent, a longtime New Englander, has helped to greatly improve life in the Florida Keys.