National Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge

Since its creation in t957, the Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge has protected the herd and helped increase the population from 50 to an estimated 800-1000.

The Key deer is a subspecies of white-tailed deer that lives only on a few islands in the Florida Keys, mostly on 16-square-mile Big Pine Key, the base for the National Key Deer Refuge.

Key deer, at maturity, stand about 30 inches tall at the shoulder and weigh a maximum of only 80 pounds for males and 63 pounds for females, roughly half the weight of the average northern continental whitetail.

(Photos courtesy of the US Fish & Wildlife Service/National Key Deer Refuge)

http://www.fws.gov/nationalkeydeer/

Contact US