Friday, December 16, 2011

CRANBROOK DEER ARE CULLED

It's only taken a week, and Cranbrook's urban deer cull is almost complete.Contractor Carmen Purdy set up the traps on Tuesday, December 6 and already 20 of the 25 deer the permit allows have been captured. He expects it will be over by Saturday, December 17.Councillor Bob Whetham said he is surprised the cull has happened so quickly."The permit did allow the trapping to go on for several months. But it's being done at one time and quite quickly. In many ways that's fine: let's do it and see what we have accomplished," said Whetham.The province has granted the City of Cranbrook a permit to euthanize up to 25 mule or whitetail deer within the city limits.The Ministry of Forests, Land and Natural Resource Operations has provided 10 clover traps, a bolt gun and a sled for the cull. The city has allocated $13,000 for the contractor and the dressing of the meat, which is being given to the local Food Bank.Purdy was hired last month after stepping down as chair of the city's deer committee."He was the one who went down to Helena to observe how their program was operating," said Whetham.Cranbrook has modelled its deer cull strategy on Helena, Montana. Now in its third year of culls, Helena euthanized 200 deer the first year, around 40 the next year and 20 this year. It has set a maximum urban deer population of 9.6 deer per square kilometre.Here, a deer count in November 2010 found there are 3.7 deer per square kilometre. Kimberley's deer count last fall found an average of 20 deer per square kilometre."The goal was to focus on the resident herds - and I think there are two or three of them where we have had incidents of aggression. That was really the focus of the whole exercise," said Whetham. "It wasn't the large number but we do have problem deer in that area where they have been born in town, they have grown up here, they have become habituated to people and pets and they can be quite aggressive."An infamous video shot on Baker Hill in 2010 shows a whitetail doe stomping on a dog when it felt its fawn was threatened.Whetham said surprisingly, the traps have caught just as many whitetail as mule deer."We've caught nine whitetail and eleven mule deer," he said, adding that the goal was to target mule deer.The traps are set on Baker Hill and near 2nd Street South and Victoria Avenue - right in the centre of town where mule deer are seen more often."Whitetail and mule deer have slightly different habits. I think what's happened is those habits are not matching up with quite what we expected," said Whetham."The mule deer tend to be more active during the day time. Now, the traps are set at night. So I think what's happening is we're getting more of the whitetail population that the mule deer population - proportionately larger than we had hoped."There have been incidents (of aggression) involving whitetail deer as well."The clover traps are humane, Whetham explained. They look like a large wire cage. After dark, bait is set inside the cage. When a deer walks in, the cage closes behind them. The next morning, before dawn, Purdy checks the trap. If there is a deer inside, he pulls a pin which collapses the trap on top of the deer. He then uses a bolt gun to euthanize the deer."The whole process is very quick. I understand that from the time the contractor arrives with the truck and puts the carcass in and drive away again can be as little as five minutes," said Whetham.The deer is taken to a butcher, dressed, and donated to the Food Bank. It has also been offered to the St. Mary's Indian Band and the Salvation Army.The cull is controversial, Whetham agreed, but the community has shown its support for the cull."I know there are people here in town who are not happy with this at all - and they have certainly told me - but the message we got from the community through our surveys was that yes, they want something done, they are concerned, and that is the way council is proceeding."Once the cull is complete, the deer committee will meet and review the program, then report back to council."It is an ongoing program now. It's not something we do once and then walk away and assume it's not something we'll have to deal with again for a long time. It's an ongoing management problem and we'll have to see how to do it best."

1 comment:

  1. I had asked Brian Venables about the Salvation Army's position was on accepting deer meat from the Cranbrook cull and here was his response:

    Thank you for your note regarding the deer in Cranbrook and throughout the province.

    I believe you have been led astray by this article as the comments regarding the use of the meat has not been agreed to, or even discussed with The Salvation Army. One could easily assume that the charitable sector would accept anything to help meet needs, but we do have principles governed by our doctrine and Biblical standards.

    Yes, it would be a shame to waste food, yet we would want to only receive the donation secured in an ethical acceptable standard.

    I hope this clarifies our role in this caper for you.

    Blessings,
    Brian Venables
    Major
    Divisional Secretary for
    Public Relations & Development

    Sent by Blackberry

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.