It’s doubtful anyone in Oak Bay relishes the thought of deer being killed, but there aren’t many workable alternatives. Most studies done throughout North America conclude that the only effective way to manage the urban-deer problem is through culling. The operative word is “manage” because the problem will likely never be solved.
Oak Bay council has voted in favour of a plan, in partnership with the Capital Regional District, to have 25 deer trapped and killed, with the meat and other body parts to be used by members of the Songhees First Nation.
As harsh as it sounds to be killing deer, the Oak Bay plan is a timid one. Removing 25 of the problem animals from the municipality will probably not have a huge effect on the local deer population. Even if it did, the effect would be temporary, as deer from adjoining areas would soon replace the ones killed.
The only solution, whatever that is, will have to be a regional solution — deer are notoriously casual about municipal boundaries.
It is not a bloodthirsty Oak Bay council that came to the conclusion that a deer cull is needed, but a desperate council. This is a thorny problem that defies solutions.
Doing nothing is not an option. The number of urban deer is increasing, not just in Oak Bay, but in cities throughout North America.
On one hand, development has driven them from their natural habitat; on the other hand, it has created an attractive environment free of predators and full of delicious things to eat.
The kind thing to do, it seems, would be just to let the deer have their way. But that short-term kindness is inadvertent cruelty. In urban environments without natural population restraints, deer densities are often 10 times what they should be. That jeopardizes the health of the deer population and increases the incidence of disease and infestations of insects and ticks.
The more deer, the more likelihood of collisions with cars. Oak Bay public works crews removed 23 deer carcasses from public roadsides last year, and 34 so far this year. Undoubtedly, more deer were hit and injured, fleeing to cover to suffer a slow death from their injuries.
Death from a bolt gun might sound harsh; death by auto is far worse, with human lives also at risk.
Relocating isn’t an option. That solution, says a University of Michigan study, “has been demonstrated to be impractical, stressful to the deer handled and may result in a high post-release mortality.”
It takes a three-metre-high fence to keep a deer out, but that would just move the problem around.
Deer repellents have limited effectiveness. Planting only things that deer won’t eat is hit and miss — they are generalists, and the hungrier they get, the less fussy they are about what they eat. Hazing and frightening techniques work at first, but the deer soon learn to ignore such distractions.
Contraception using a vaccine called SpayVac has been touted as a solution, but that would involve the stress of trapping and confining does. A 2011 report by B.C. researchers Mark A. Fraker and Helen Schantje estimates it would cost $400 to $600 to trap each doe, and another $200 per animal for the vaccine. Unless 90 per cent of the does are vaccinated, say the researchers, the method will not be effective.
“Treating only 50-60 per cent of the does in a population will be largely a waste of time and money,” they write, noting that contraception isn’t feasible for widespread control of deer populations.
This isn’t a problem that can be solved, only managed. And it needs to be managed on a regional basis, not just in Oak Bay.
