© Tony AttanasioI have a fear that the District of Invermere (DOI) in British Columbia has applied to the provincial government, as legally required, for a permit to lethally cull deer for the next three years. The previous permit, issued on October 7, 2014, expired on March 31, 2017.[teaserbreak]
The permit is issued under stipulations that the deer killed are “nuisance” deer, known to cause problems, such as threatening people, or are at least from areas with high populations. Mule deer are not shy. Unlike white-tails, mothers will defend young and, in rutting season, bucks can be obstreperous, especially in situations where dogs are involved. The deer are caught alive in “clover traps” and later killed with a bolt gun, which drives a spike into the brain.
The District wrote to the province’s wildlife biologist, saying, “The program would be a targeted approach with traps being place[d] in areas of high incidents or higher populations.” The District’s Urban Deer 2017 Annual Report states, “Traps were located in zones which have aggressive deer/human safety related issues.”
But, that’s simply not true. Appendix D of Permit CB14-140587 shows that of the 17 deer killed last January, 15 were in the DOI Public Works Yard (Area 7)—an area that had the lowest deer count of any of the designated Areas, except for Area 2, which had the same low number! In fact, the number in Area 7 went down by one (from nine in 2015 to eight in 2016), while areas 1, 3, 4, and 5 all had deer counts over 20. Does that mean the DOI Public Works Yard employees are the folks most afraid of, or bothered by, deer? We have yet to find the evidence. Indications are that the Yard is used because it is protected from public scrutiny, not because of high populations or the number of human/deer conflicts, contrary to the terms of the permit.
In 2014 there was one deer “conflict” in DOI and, in 2015, there were only four reported incidents of “high populations.” In 2015, there were four reported incidents, two involving injured deer. In 2016, there was one complaint, about a dead deer. By-law (“ordinance”) officers recorded only three complaints about deer not injured or dead in their monthly reports between November 2013 and June 2016. Monthly complaint summaries by Conservation Officers showed between none to four complaints each year between 2005 and 2011. Lethal culling started in 2011 with a corresponding increase in complaints, numbering as high as 17 in 2013. Not once in the decade prior to 2014 did a CO have to kill a deer for aggressive behavior.
In 2017, 24 percent of deer killed were juveniles, who don’t display aggressive behavior. There’s no indication of why five adult females, two adult males, and one female fawn were killed in the work yard in 2016, the only place the cull occurred. Are the guys who work there afraid of fawns?
It’s all a sham. And, for that reason, we urge the newly elected B.C. provincial government to deny the cull permit.
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Barry