The witch hunt known as the Regional Deer
Management Strategy took further steps this week when what was meant
to be a covert deer count was begun in Oak Bay by CRD staff,
accompanied by Mike Webb of West Coast Problem Wildlife Management.
Even though a call to by-law revealed
that no deer feeding complaints have been recorded, and no fines have
been imposed, Oak Bay council recently raised the fine for feeding
deer from $100 to $300 for a first offense, $500 for subsequent
offenses. Fines for feeding racoons and rabbits remain at $100.
Inadequate care of companion animals, inadequate shelter of companion
animals and cruelty remain at $50. A vicious dog fine is $200.
Oak Bay staff tallied the costs
associated with "deer removal and disposal," and found that the costs
merit a fine increase. According to this logic everyone who plants a
garden and refuses to fence it is feeding deer, including city
beautification plantings of petunias and tulips.
The aim of the $12,500 deer initiative
is to appease the residents who have been complaining that deer are
eating their gardens. The deer count that has taken place over the
past two weeks is intended to help the CRD and Oak Bay create a
plan, which will include a deer cull as early as September.
Oak Bay will find some stumbling blocks
along the way, however.
The Ministry of Forests, Lands and
Natural Resource Operations only issues deer killing permits for the
months of November to March. November municipal elections will
probably be very bad timing for a mass slaughter of deer in the CRD.
And then there is the rumour that the
Ministry will not lend their clover traps to Oak Bay due to concerns
of vandalism. In 2011 the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations paid $15,000 for ten deer traps,
two bolt guns and a plastic sled to bleed out the deer. Communities
in the CRD that have expressed an interest in a clover trap “pilot
project” (Oak Bay, View Royal and Central Saanich) may be viewed as
too risky for the loan, since public opposition to these culls has
been very vocal.
The witch hunt began with an invitation
via the Times Colonist from the CRD to residents to write in to a
designated email address with their complaints about deer in early
2011. It progressed with a Citizen's Advisory Group that included a
bow hunting lobbyist (and in which two appointees resigned citing “an
irretrievably flawed process”), and an online survey that was not
even given honourable mention in the CAG's RDMS report.
It would seem that the biggest headache
for the levels of government that have tasked themselves with the
appeasement of gardeners and careless drivers isn't the opposition to
culling or even the deer themselves. Their lack of meaningful
research into non-lethal human/deer mitigation methods and best
scientific practises has given way to knee-jerk political
positioning. If only they could remember what is at the heart of
this irritant – animal abuse and society's response to
out-of-control change for us all.
Photo courtesy of Nicolas Read
This is all about appeasing the vocal minority as you explain Kelly. Yes there are deer in our communities and, yes, sometimes they are hit by cars or eat flowers. However, the inflamatory rhetoric that is constantly emphasized by the media and local politicians has aggravated this issue more than any of the deers actions.
ReplyDeleteAnecdotal incidents and experiences of deer conflict become front page news, just to get a rise out of readers. On the radio conflict is sown between speakers to keep people interested and emotionally charged. While the anti-cull side is framed as overly-emotional Bambi lovers for wanting to protect life, the pro-cull side that is so emotional they want to murder deer are framed as the rational down-to-earth folk. However, whenever evidence is needed to drum up support for a cull, there is none to be found. All the evidence shows it is an inhumane and ineffective practice.
There has been a consistent effort by the CRD and its municipalities to promote a cull even if the decision makers don't know what a 'cull' is or how it is to be carried out as apparent by questions raised at council meetings in Oak Bay and elsewhere. The current effort to count the deer is only meant to serve this same purpose, to give rational for a cull where there is none.
Yet, leaving the matter at that will not sell papers, or keep the vocal few satisfied. So much for science...