Provincial Veterinarian Decides These Orphans Can Be in the Movies

Orphaned Fawns Rescued in Roberts Creek

Sophie Woodrooffe, Coast Reporter

MAY 29, 2020 06:00 AM

Two orphaned fawns were rescued from a waterfront property in Roberts Creek on May 20.

Two fawns have been rescued from a waterfront property in Roberts Creek after a cougar killed their mother.

A doe and stag had been living on the property for some time, and the resident noticed the fawns were born the week of May 11. A cougar killed the doe the morning of May 19.

“We responded and found the two little fawns in the bush, hiding as they do,” said Sgt. Dean Miller of the Conservation Officer Service (COS).

It’s normal for does to leave their fawns for up to 12 hours while foraging elsewhere. “Of course we knew what happened to the doe, so we captured them and contacted a regional biologist,” said Miller.
This isn’t the first cougar conflict in Roberts Creek this spring.

A cougar also killed a dog last month near the heart of Roberts Creek along Beach Avenue.

At the time, the COS advised the public to take extra precautions. But because of the increased frequency of sightings and the fact that the cougar was being seen far from the forest, the COS brought hounds into the community to locate what they believed was a large male cat.

Separate people observed the cougar in the area on two occasions the morning of May 20.

The cougar was not located by the hounds, but because conservation officers removed the deer corpse and took away the fawns, they expect the cougar to move on.

“That area is a corridor for wildlife and a sample of the food chain. You do have the prey species eating non-native plant species and then the predators follow,” Miller said.

As for the fawns, they will spend their life with Beyond Bears, a specialized animal training company based in Abbotsford.

Owner Mark Dumas said the fawns will be trained for film and television. The company’s credits include Cold Pursuit with actor Liam Neeson and Seventh Son with Jeff Bridges.

“You build an incredible bond with these animals,” Dumas said.

May to June is fawning season, and Miller said it’s normal for fawns to be observed alone without an adult deer.


The Province of British Columbia currently only permits one accredited wildlife rehabilitation centres to rewild orphan fawns.  Deer cannot be kept on private property or given to wildlife rehabilitation centres without a permit, yet these two were permitted to go to an individual who will keep them until a movie production company would (possibly) like to use them. With current CGI technology animals in film are increasingly uneeded.

This is all you will see on the Beyond Bears website:

What made the provincial veterinarian agree (on the advice of a "regional biologist" yet to be named) to send these two fawns to an Abbotsford back yard where they will lanquish in hopes that a Hollywood production might need them? That's right, they've been sent to Mark Dumas' back yard.

BC wildlife is in grave danger from the very people most British Columbians believe act in their best interest.

UPDATE: the fawns have been removed from Mark Dumas' possession and have been sent to Critter Care wildlife rescue in Abbotsford. 

Deer Shot with Crossbow in City Limits

A buck found injured by a crossbow bolt had to be put down in an Esquimalt neighbourhood Friday morning, police said. Aug. 2, 2019. (CTV Vancouver Island)  

CTV Vancouver Island 

Published Friday, August 2, 2019 10:14AM PDT 

A buck found shot by a crossbow while wandering in an Esquimalt neighbourhood has been put down by police.

Police were called to the area of Bryden Court Friday morning after neighbours spotted the buck, which they said commonly frequents the area, with a bolt lodged in its rear left leg.

Officers from Victoria police's Esquimalt division responded and used a patrol rifle to put down the deer and end its suffering.

Neighbours were contacted by police before the rifle was fired to warn them

The deer was being picked up by city work crews at around 10 a.m.

Neighbours said they were upset and concerned that someone would intentionally fire a crossbow at the animal.

They were also worried that someone would be as reckless as to fire a crossbow in the city.

CTV News has reached out to Victoria police for more information.

The Loudest Voices Carry Guns and Snares

Temper tantrums and bad behaviour steer wildlife management in British Columbia.

In February 2018 my friend and colleague Jordan Reichert posted my Victoria Animal News story “A One-Man Bounty on Wolves in BC,” to his public page. In that article I revealed a plan by a BC hunter, Steve Isdahl, to cull wolves across our province. Not just a few wolves, but as many as he could incite fellow hunters to kill in all eight M.Us.

Upset that his plan was made public, Steve Isdahl took to social media to say “If you have in any way attacked a person concerned for our wildlife you are about to be humiliated up one end of you and out the other – easily.”

What that meant for the only male “anti” that he could identify was this silly meme.

He had something else in mind for me, and for a fellow female advocate who had written an article in support of changes to wildlife management that was published by the Vancouver Sun. Something more personal, and I’m very sure he hoped, more “threatening” than a meme. This photo arrived in the mail at my home with no return address. My colleague received the same photo at her place of work, also with no return address.

I believe it was expected that I would tuck tail and stay silent when I received that photo. Women, after all, should know their place. So should wolves. Was the lack of a return address meant to confuse me about who sent it? The effusive use of smiley faces on social media carries over into hard copy however. I have no reason to believe my assumption is incorrect.

On August 28, 2018 Isdahl posted to social media that he was going to make “antis” too scared to oppose him.

In a video uploaded to Youtube on July 18, 2018 he called “Predator Explosion” Isdahl advises hunters that cougars, black bears, grizzlies, coyotes, lynx and bobcats are all competition to the game they’re after, stating that they “must take those predators out when you get the chance.”   

British Columbia’s wildlife deserve a management strategy that will include science and conservation that considers trophic cascades and social structures, not the emotional knee-jerk reaction by sport hunters that is currently in place. They deserve a management strategy that will respect predators and prey species for their vital contributions to sensitive environments, and will give them all the space they need to recover their own equilibrium from the toxic bombardment of industry and hunting pressures.

There is more to the story of predator culls in BC than individuals throwing temper tantrums, however. Last month news broke that the provincial government has expanded hunting of bighorn sheep, a species of concern, in the Cariboo at the same time they have contracted a cull of wolves and coyotes in the neighbouring region.

How can citizens make decisions on wildlife populations and take control of them? The Ministries responsible for BC wildlife are still hunter-centric in both policy and operations. Who is responsible for regulations and changes to them, such as extended hunting seasons? It’s difficult to be in doubt that the fox is guarding the henhouse when regulations regarding chasing cougars with hounds for the exercise of dogs is expanded. With the current attitude towards wildlife any hunter with an ax to grind about any predator can set a snare or a leghold trap anywhere – and they are.

Creative Signage Gets Attention on Highway to Sooke

The Ministry of Transportation recently worked with DeerSafe member Dana Livingstone to create an eye-catching sign on Highway 14 to Sooke. The electronic signs are used to warn drivers of seasonal road hazards, and this was one of the most timely messages to convey to the driving public.

Dana Livingstone, an East Sooke resident, has long been concerned about the deer that are regularly hit on the highway. She was inspired to approach the Ministry of Transportation when she observed a doe with a badly broken back leg bravely nurse her fawn for weeks before disappearing, having given him the best chance at life that she could.

Wildlife collisions have been identified as a concern for drivers. At this time of year when one deer is spotted at the side of the road or highway others will be close behind; the fawns. Municipal “leaping deer” signs are small and often overlooked, rarely mitigating vehicle/deer collisions as they are left up all year.

The potential for these electronic road hazard signs to warn drivers at peak seasons for wildlife movement cannot be overstated. Drivers across the province would benefit from these timely signs, as they could be updated for species that are relevant to particular regions.

Thank you to the Ministry, and to Dana Livingstone for the idea and the hard work to make this happen. 

Contraceptive vaccine planned for Oak Bay deer

Cindy E Harnett/Times Colonist

April 10, 2018

Twenty does, including this one, were radio-collared in Oak Bay last month.

Photograph By SUBMITTED

Administration of a contraceptive vaccine is being planned to manage deer in Oak Bay after 20 does were radio-collared last month.

Data from the collared does and 40 motion-sensor infrared cameras set up along trails in Oak Bay will be reviewed before the vaccine can be administered.

The program is “ground-breaking” and the first time in B.C. and Canada that the immunocontraceptive vaccine, Zonastat-D, would be used in a small, contained urban setting to manage deer, said Steve Huxter, of the non-profit Victoria-based Urban Wildlife Stewardship Society (UWSS).

If a permit from the province is granted, the birth-control drug would be administered to a number of female indigenous Columbian black-tailed deer as early as August, said Huxter, who is the project manager.

Oak Bay has adopted a $40,000 program, jointly funded by the municipality and the province, to control the deer population using immunocontraception.

About 40 deer are found dead in Oak Bay each year, mostly hit by vehicles or entangled or impaled on fences.

“That’s not a humane way to reduce our deer population,” said Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen.

Conflict with humans and small domestic animals is also a concern.

A cull in Oak Bay in 2015 saw 11 deer killed in two weeks. Jensen calls it a “relative success,” but it created a rift in the community and sparked protests by the B.C. SPCA and animal-rights activists.

That led to adoption of the current program, of which the first phase was conducted from Feb. 18 to March 23 by the UWSS’s wildlife veterinarian, a biologist and team of volunteers.

They sedated the 20 does and fitted them with GPS collars weighing less than one pound and with colour-coded tags for future identification. The process, including recovery and release, took a maximum of 30 minutes, according to the society.

Five young bucks were inadvertently captured and then ear tagged, but were not fitted with GPS collars. Forty motion-sensor cameras were installed to photograph the animals as they wander.

This first phase of the program is expected to provide baseline data on the ecology of urban deer, movement patterns, density, and population size.

They don’t have a population count yet, but Oak Bay’s mayor said he knows for certain “there’s too many deer in Oak Bay.”

A decade ago, there were years when just one or two were found dead in the municipality, said Jensen. For the past five to six years, about 40 have been found dead each year. There’s been a “rapid escalation” over the last six years, he said.

“It’s encouraging to see the first phase was completed successfully and now the second phase will hopefully be underway in the next six to 12 months.”

In the second phase, does will be given the drug Zonastat-D. It blocks fertilization by triggering production of antibodies that bind to the protein envelope surrounding the egg.

It’s “very very safe,” said Huxter.

The does will either be captured and the drug injected by hand or the deer will be shot with a contraceptive dart that will administer the drug and mark the spot for identification. “It’s a lot faster, more efficient and cost effective to use a darting rifle,” said Huxter.

An issue with the drug is that it’s only effective for 12 to 22 months, said Huxter.

UWSS includes scientists, wildlife veterinarians, biologists, graduate students, animal behaviourists and community volunteers. It is working with a laboratory in the hopes of developing a vaccine that is effective for five to seven years, he said.

The vaccine would not be harmful to a human or predator if the deer were consumed, said Huxter.

If successful, UWSS hopes the program will serve as an effective, community-supported template for urban deer management around North America.

Kimberley wants access to residents’ properties for deer translocation

Cranbrook, BC, Canada / The Drive FM

Jeff Johnson

January 31, 2018 10:50 am

The City of Kimberley is seeking permission from residents to move forward with its deer translocation project.

Staff are asking property owners if they will allow biologists onto their properties to tranquilize and remove mule deer.

City Councillor Darryl Oakley believes residents will be supportive and appreciate the alternative initiative.

He says many people have approached him and commented they appreciate the animals don’t suffer.

Leading the initiative, Oakley insists mule deer translocate very well and aren’t armed in horse trailers.

However, the Councillor admits residents have every right not to allow biologists onto their property.

Kimberley expects to remove up to 50 ungulates by tranqualizing and trucking them to winter range outside of city limits.

Mayor Don McCormick has said several times Council will no longer pursue lethal deer culls as a management option.

The Province has committed to provide matching funds of up to $25,000 for February’s initiative.

Oakley says staff and experts will target high density areas based off information gathered from complaints from residents and the City’s deer count.

He says it would be a huge help from residents if they were to allow the team into these areas.

B.C. government ends grizzly bear hunt

The British Columbia government is bringing an end to the hunting of grizzly bears throughout the province, Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, and George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, announced today.

“Through consultations this past fall, we have listened to what British Columbians have to say on this issue and it is abundantly clear that the grizzly hunt is not in line with their values,” Donaldson said. “Our government continues to support hunting in this province and recognizes our hunting heritage is of great importance to many British Columbians.”

The spring grizzly bear hunt was scheduled to open on April 1, 2018, but the ban on hunting for resident and non-resident hunters takes effect immediately.

“Our government is committed to improving wildlife management in B.C., and today’s announcement, along with a focused grizzly bear management plan, are the first steps in protecting one of our most iconic species,” Heyman said. “We also want to promote the healthy grizzly bear viewing economy in B.C. and give everyone the tremendous opportunity to see these incredible animals in their natural habitat.”

“After years of work on this file, my colleagues and I are absolutely overjoyed this decision has finally been made,” said Adam Olsen, Green MLA for Saanich North and the Islands. “The results of the consultation were clear and government has listened. We couldn’t be more thrilled.”

In August 2017, government announced that, effective Nov. 30, 2017, it would end trophy hunting of grizzly bears and stop all hunting of grizzly bears in the Great Bear Rainforest. Government also announced it would launch a consultation process on regulations to support a sustenance hunt, while ending the trophy hunt.

Through the consultation process with First Nations, stakeholder groups and the public, 78% of respondents recommended the hunt be stopped entirely.

First Nations will still be able to harvest grizzly bears pursuant to Aboriginal rights for food, social, or ceremonial purposes, or treaty rights.  

There are an estimated 15,000 grizzly bears in British Columbia. 

Provincial government staff will be implementing recommendations from the recent Auditor General report on grizzly bear management. The government will also be moving forward with a broader consultation process on a renewed wildlife management strategy for the province in the new year.