Staten Island is being invaded by residents of New Jersey -- residents with antlers to be more specific.

Apparently, the deer population in Staten Island has been going up, and Friday, for the first time, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will release its first ever count of deer in the borough.

And these clever creatures aren't taking the ferry or Verrazano like the rest of us, they're swimming over.

"We suspect that they they are swimming over from New Jersey, deer are strong swimmers and the Arthur Kill is a narrow body of water," said Arturo Garcia-Costas, of the NYSDEC.

He added: "In recent months there have been a couple of accidents, and an increase in sightings and because of this, we decided to conduct this survery to help the state and city department of transportations to put up signage and get a handle of the situation. Our report finds that the population has gotten self sustaining."

-- Pete Catapano