To the editor:

A few years ago I attended a wedding on Sinclair Island in a beautiful grassy garden near the bride’s family home. Walking up from the boat landing I had the first sensation that something was too good to be true, and continued to wonder what was wrong with this picture until I realized that although flowers and vegetables were growing in abundance, there were no fences to be seen.

I learned that Sinclair Island has zero tolerance for deer, and that should a deer be so foolhardy as to swim to the island it is shot at first sighting. There are simply no deer on the island.

Why does Whidbey Island allow deer when their only predators are cars? The isolated ecosystem of an island where nature is unable to provide a natural balance sometimes forces hard decisions, but I think, as your article points out, that the time has come to begin a discussion about how a balance might be achieved.

Katherine Raff

Seattle