Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law
by Mary Roach.
Norton, 308 pp., $26.95
Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in the Non-Human World
by Emma Marris.
Bloomsbury, 340 pp., $28.00
Every fall in the state of Maryland, where I live, hunters bearing rifles, shotguns, handguns, longbows, crossbows, and other sanctioned culling devices kill about 80,000 white-tailed deer. That “harvest” puts a significant dent in the average statewide deer population of 200,000-plus, but because a doe generally gives birth to twins or even triplets each year, deer are awfully good at replenishing their stock. And so deer can be seen ambling along suburban sidewalks in midday as if headed to Starbucks, or browsing peacefully and voraciously in one’s backyard on the tulips, hostas, lilies, and holly leaves, until one’s red-faced husband storms…