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District releases final update on deer cull
The District of Elkford would like to provide a further and final update to the community of Elkford on the deer harvest (cull) that was conducted in January.
The permit issued by the Province of B.C. authorized the district to cull up to 50 urban deer. The cull commenced on January 6 and was completed on the 24th. A total of 39 urban mule deer were culled. The deer meat has been processed, and donated to regional food banks.
At this time, Mayor and Council would like to extend thanks to the members of the community who assisted, and to the contractors who completed the operation. We would like to thank all employees who were impacted by the tough decision that was made by Council, and a special thanks to those employees who were tasked with carrying out that decision. In addition, Mayor and Council would like to extend our appreciation to past members of the dissolved Urban Deer Management Advisory Committee, and the current members of the Urban Wildlife Management Advisory Committee.
Moving forward, this committee will continue to work on all wildlife issues (including urban deer), to continue the research and recommend solutions to better manage human-wildlife interactions in our community.
In 2010, after an increase in the number of complaints regarding the deer in our community, council directed that a survey be conducted to sense the pulse of the community on this urban deer issue. A total of 433 Elkford residents responded and one of the directions was to establish a committee of citizens to examine the urban deer issue (73% supported this). The results of the survey also indicated that the community wished to see a reduction in the urban deer population – 70% wanted a moderate decrease of reducing the herd by 30%-40%.
A Citizen Committee was established in 2011 and held numerous public meetings, researched and investigated the issue, conducted deer population counts, and eventually made recommendations to council. One of the recommendations was to apply to the province for a permit to cull urban mule deer, and another recommendation was to establish an Urban Wildlife Management Advisory Committee.
District of Elkford
