Auburn, Feb. 12---Frank Boyd remembers it like it was yesterday.

One minute he was driving down an Alabama interstate, the next minute a deer was crashing into his car. The deer died instantly, but luckily, Boyd was fine. His car, however, suffered almost $4,000 in damage.

"The deer ran out from the side of the road before I had time to do anything about it," he said.

That’s usually how it happens. Each year in Alabama, deer damage thousands of homes, properties and automobiles. When deer run into cars, they can cause major injuries to the vehicle’s occupants.

Boyd, who works with the USDA Wildlife Service, said he’s not sure exactly how much Alabamians spend each year on damage caused by wildlife. Insurance forms don’t always mention deer on claims listing deer-vehicle collisions, and some deer damage goes unreported.

He does know they spend a lot.

Nationwide, deer-automobile collisions kill 200 people and cost more than $1 billion each year.

Dr. Jim Armstrong, an Alabama Cooperative Extensions System wildlife specialist, says deer aren’t the only culprits.

Wild geese and beaver cause expensive damage to crops and property. Even squirrels and birds damage lawns and homes, he said.

"There is quite a bit of residential lawn and structural damage caused by squirrels, woodpeckers and bats," Armstrong said. "We get a lot of calls related to those species, as well as armadillos, voles and moles."

Boyd said he’s read one study that showed beaver damage to timber costs Alabama about $19 million a year.

"When beavers build their dams, the backed up water kills nearby trees," he said. "That causes severe damage to the timber industry. Many other species, including Canadian geese, cause problems too. They are particularly destructive on golf courses, especially the greens. They eat the grass and leave large amounts of droppings that also harm the grass."

Boyd said even urban areas, like Birmingham and Huntsville, are not immune to damage caused by wildlife.

"Those cities have problems with geese around office buildings," he said. "They damage landscapes and sometimes chase people on their way into work. Geese are also a problem at airports, where they fly into planes and sometimes run onto runways."

But overall, deer are the worst offenders.

Deer have been known to streak onto airport runways, Boyd said, and then there’s all the damage they can do to yards and crops.

"I’ve seen a $20,000 landscaping job on a new house totally destroyed by deer," he said. "They do a lot of damage to ornamentals. They also do a lot of crop damage – eating soybeans, cotton, etc."

Armstrong says deer have become such a problem because of overpopulation, caused mainly by their adaptability.

"The deer population has exploded in recent years, probably because of alterations in habitat," he said. "We have created the ideal habitats for deer, even in nonagricultural situations like subdivisions. Deer are very adaptable and will lose their fear of humans if there is no perceived threat."

Planning and prevention can minimize some of the wildlife damage in Alabama, Armstrong said.

"We need to make modifications and do some things ahead of time to prevent damage," he said. "We can put more planning into the structural design of office buildings. For instance, we can eliminate those nooks and crannies so perfect for starlings and pigeons."

Armstrong says the deer population must be controlled, as well.

"Alabama is already taking steps to do that by changing the bag limit during hunting season," he said. "But we need to remember that deer are a valuable commodity in Alabama. We need to balance the equation by developing a quality deer herd that still satisfies the needs of the hunter, but also reduces the negative deer encounters."

Controlling wildlife is always a challenge, he said.

"There aren’t a lot of easy answers," he said. "We can solve some of the wildlife problems, but we just have to adapt to some things too."