Urban Deer Management
There is no doubt that we have received information that the urban deer population is increasing. As well, we have received information around ICBC and wildlife conflicts have increased.
Deer are wildlife and their management is under the control of the Ministry of Environment. The farmers are having their revenues reduced do to crop damage and again, a couple of Ministries should be helping farmers, Environment and Agriculture, to name a few.
The following is an excerpt from an interesting website I found. The site is: http://www.deerfriendly.com/urban-deer-management
“A Guide to Making an Urban Deer Management Plan”. This from the United States and their wildlife roles, but it shows that this is not just an issue here but it has and is happening elsewhere and what higher levels of government are doing.
Deer Issues: Three issues are most often cited as local problems requiring deer control, click on the following links for information related to each of these issues:
Surveys of deer: Methods include aerial, by driving around, by citizen contribution. Example deer map
What alternative methods are there for deer population control.
Population control: Sharpshooting is typically about $500 per deer, but costs as low as $100 per deer have been reported. Studies show that immunoncontraception leads to a rapid reduction in deer population of 30-40 percent in 3 years. In 5-6 years, that number reaches goal levels of 80-90 percent reduction. Contraception typically costs from $261 to $513 per doe for the first year, but falls to $88 to $103 in subsequent years. Contraception costs of $1,000 have been reported. Sterilization costs typically are about $750 per deer, but can be reduced by using local veterinarians who may volunteer. One advantage of contraception and sterilization is that local does remain and defend their territory, discouraging new deer from migrating in from other areas. This benefit is typically ignored in community costs analysis.
Fencing: Increasing the fenced area in a community will reduce habitat and deer density. Local ordinances relating to fencing will play a role in designing the urban ecosystem.
Selecting the deer to cull or sterilize: Individual deer exhibit a wide variety of behaviors and physical characteristics. Selecting problem deer will reduce these traits in future populations. For example, deer size is correlated to transportation damage and risk of injury. Smaller deer reduce the risk. Each deer favor different plants for food.
Two Canadian cities, Banff and Waterton, are using dogs to manage deer populations. Waterton is a popular tourist destination, known for its friendly deer that walk the streets, but a few deer have become too assertive. At first, these deer were marked by being shot with paint guns, then removed from town – but they came back. more recently, a team of border collies is driven through the town a few times a day to manage the herd.
Measure the desired change.
Adaptive Resource Management, a popular scientific approach to wildlife management proposes that results of programs should be evaluated based on objectives measurements of the desired results, such as reduced plant damage, vehicle accidents, or tick-borne disease.