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No additional deer cull in 2013
Residents of the City of Cranbrook will not see an additional urban deer cull in the city in 2013.
That was the decision of city council Monday night, following a recommendation made by the Urban Deer Management Advisory Committee (UDMAC).
After a meeting of the UDMAC on September 25, the committee unanimously voted to recommend not conducting another cull in 2013. Instead the committee recommended that city staff create and administer a resident survey in 2014 to help determine the course of future deer population management activities in the city. The last public survey was conducted in October 2010.
“The decision not to cull this winter will give us time to work with provincial government staff on exploring options to manage urban deer,” said Mayor Wayne Stetski. “It is a growing issue around B.C. and all wildlife is the ‘property’ of the province. Municipalities can only do what the province says we can do when it comes to managing wildlife.”
UDMAC reviewed a list of resident complaints received by city staff between January 1 and September 15. The sentiment around the committee table was that the complaint data collected to date in 2013 doesn’t warrant an additional population cull and that this time could now be used to re-evaluate the overall deer population management picture locally.
“A lot has occurred around urban deer population management, not only in Cranbrook but around the province in the last three years,” said Chris Zettel, Corporate Communications Officer for the City of Cranbrook. “The committee felt that now is the time to go back to the community and say, here is what you wanted to see done to manage the deer population and here is what the city has done to date based on what the public wanted to see. Based on all of this information where should the city go from here?”
UDMAC member Coun. Bob Whetham told council Oct. 7 that another deer count will be conducted. A count is conducted by teams of a driver and a spotter covering zones in the city, with every road and laneway driven.
It isn’t a perfect science, he admitted.
“We all realize the limitations of this,” he said, noting only the deer that are seen are counted. “It gives us a minimum number of animals. It’s far from perfect but it gives a pretty good indication,” he said.
After councilors Gerry Warner and Angus Davis noted they believe they are seeing fewer deer in town, Whetham said the city’s public education program is also likely starting to pan out as more people take steps to deer proof their yards.
“I suspect a lot more people have fenced their gardens. I know I did,” he said.
Mayor Stetski also pointed out that the BC Conservation Officer Service euthanized 53 deer last year, that were hit by cars, stuck in fences or otherwise injured.
Additionally, he said city officials met with Premier Christy Clark and other provincial mayors during the Union of BC Municipalities’ conference in Vancouver in mid September to discuss the growing problem of urban deer.
A “small committee” is being struck by Minister of Forests Steve Thomson to look into the matter, he said.
Over the next several months, city staff will work with Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations staff to determine the questions to be included in the new public survey. The process of how the survey will be administered and the how the data will be collected and presented is being reviewed by city staff.
Meanwhile, Mayor Stetski is asking residents to report aggressive deer behavior to both city hall and the BC Conservation Officer Service.
Ian Cobb/e-KNOW
