Animal Alliance looking forward to relocation trial

Posted December 28, 2015 12:07 pm
Arne Petryshen

Animal Alliance of Canada is one of the project partners in the upcoming recently announced mule deer relocation trial.

A trial project to translocate urban mule deer from four communities in the East Kootenay will begin later this winter. Mule deer will be live-captured in Elkford, Cranbrook, Kimberley and Invermere, and transported to winter range areas in the East Kootenay where natural non-urban mule deer populations have been in decline for several years.

Liz White, executive director of the organization, said they are looking forward to the project.

“As you know, we’ve been part of opposing the deer culls that occurred in Elkford, Kimberley, Cranbrook, Invermere… over the last few years,” White said, adding that when the government decided they would look at non-lethal alternatives, Animal Alliance agreed to participate.

“So that’s what we’re doing in hopes that municipalities will begin looking at a variety of different non-lethal alternatives that I think will begin to help kind of deal with specific issues that culling clearly does not,” she said. “There are animals that they say are a problem, but there’s no guarantee that those animals are the ones being killed in the traps. It calls into question the efficacy of the culling.”

White hopes the government will get on board with the alternative methods, as it is up to it to change the provincial regulations to allow alternatives to culling.
White said that the government agreeing to participate in the relocation pilot is a good indication that the government may be opening up to the idea.

“This is a program that requires engagement by government officials in terms of allowing use of effects on deer that would not ordinarily be allowed, like using drugs on them to tranquilize them and that kind of thing,” she said, adding the provincial veterinarian also has to be involved.

Animal Alliance is assisting in the purchase of radio collars for the relocation study.

The collars will allow for the relocated to be monitored. That will allow the whole thing to be evaluated.

White said it has been quite difficult dealing with the government on these issues in the past.

“There has been over a period of time, resistance to alternatives,” she said, noting that Kimberley had applied a number of years ago to try hazing and got permission for a one-off trial. White said hazing has to happen in a much more planned and coordinated way to work effectively. She added it needs to be combined with other techniques, such as not allowing people to feed deer.

“Most municipalities, Kimberley being the exception, have a bylaw but don’t enforce it,” she said.

White also said that killing the deer doesn’t solve the issue of urban deer.

“If you look at the numbers, I think they’ve had four culls and really the number of mule deer they’ve counted has not gone down substantially,” she said. “It just doesn’t work.”

She noted Animal Alliance was disappointed that Cranbrook proceeded with a cull earlier in 2015.

White said she will be coming to the area to observe the relocation.

“It’s a whole coordinated thing and a whole bunch of people who haven’t really got along very well together in the past are all kind of working together, it’s kind of nice,” she said.

Urban mule deer translocation trial set to begin

Posted December 21, 2015 e-KNOW


After extensive planning and discussions, a trial project to translocate urban mule deer from four communities in the East Kootenay will begin later this winter.

Mule deer will be live-captured in Elkford, Cranbrook, Kimberley and Invermere, and transported to winter range areas in the East Kootenay where natural non-urban mule deer populations have been in decline for several years.

This trial project, which has received widespread support, is a response to the desire of many to find a non-lethal option to reduce urban deer populations. While the hope is that translocation will prove to be a reliable management tool, the current project is designed to scientifically test if translocation of urban deer is humane and effective. Humane treatment of deer is the primary focus throughout the process.

“The objective of this project is to test how urban mule deer respond once they’ve been moved to natural environments,” explained lead project biologist Ian Adams of Cranbrook-based VAST Resource Solutions. “For the project to prove successful, translocated deer must not return to either their home community or any other urban area. From the outset we’ve been clear that deer moved from one community are not to become a nuisance elsewhere.”

Another question is how deer cope with predators.

“A concern of many is that urban deer have become naïve to predators,” said Adams. “These are animals that are now accustomed to staring down perceived threats from people and pets, particularly dogs. Whether deer retain some innate memory of predators can only be tested by moving deer from urban areas to natural areas.”

In order to track their movement and survival, 20 of the translocated deer will be fitted with GPS radio collars. The collars are programmed to connect with Global Positioning System satellites, just like a GPS unit used by geocachers or the dashboard of a vehicle.

Up to two locations of the deer are sent daily to biologists to track their movements. A collar will also send out notification if it doesn’t move for eight hours. Biologists will then track it down as soon as possible to determine if the deer has died and, if so, establish cause of death. All deer will have visible ear tags to identify them as translocated urban mule deer.

“The timing of this trial project is great,” said Adams. “B.C. provincial biologists are currently running a similar project on non-urban mule deer, using the same GPS collar technology. We’ll be able to compare movement and survival of translocated urban deer with natural mule deer in the same areas at the same time. It’s an ideal scientific control.”

The communities involved are pleased to have the trial proceed and the opportunity to be involved. Partnerships and cooperation are key to the project’s success, Adams suggested.

This work has brought together provincial and municipal governments, the conservation community and others. Animal Alliance of Canada, which has been forthright in their opposition to culling, supports the project and has contributed financially to its implementation.”

Local wildlife conservation clubs are important partners and strong supporters of the project, volunteering their efforts to help implement the translocation.

"We are pleased to be part of a project exploring alternatives to the lethal management of deer who frequent urban environments,” said Liz White, Director of Animal Alliance of Canada. “We hope that the communities involved will continue to seek alternatives to culling.”

“As a leading municipality on this translocation trial project we are pleased with the partnerships made on this project, and the progress to-date, and look forward to implementation later this winter,” said District of Elkford Mayor Dean McKerracher.

“The issues associated with urban deer are not going to go away,” stated City of Kimberley Mayor Don McCormick. “Municipalities have limited options for dealing with these issues, and translocation seems to be one option that is supported by all interest groups. If successful, translocation will offer far more flexibility than a cull and be a welcome addition to our toolkit.”

City of Cranbrook’s Corporate Communications Officer, Chris Zettel, stated, “For several years now, communities in this region affected by large urban deer populations have been seeking additional tools to deal with the problem. We are excited to be a partner in this trial, which we see as a promising step forward.”

This project is funded, in part, through the Upper Kootenay Ecosystem Enhancement Plan (UKEEP), which is a partnership between the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program (FWCP) and Columbia Basin Trust (CBT). Significant additional financial support has been provided by all project partners.

Partners include: District of Elkford, City of Kimberley, City of Cranbrook, District of Invermere, Animal Alliance of Canada, B.C. Ministry of Forest, Lands & Natural Resource Operations, Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program, Columbia Basin Trust, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers of British Columbia and local Rod and Gun Clubs.

VAST Resource Solutions Inc. is a privately owned environmental consulting company based in the East Kootenay of British Columbia. The company provides professional natural resource management and engineering services to a wide variety of industry and government clients.

Spay Vac Project Thwarted by Pro-cull Politicians

There was much optimism in the room after the July 22, 2015 meeting of the Planning, Transportation and Protective Services Committe concerning a $35,000 grant to the Urban Wildlife Stewardship Society when the majority of the Directors agreed that the organization should receive a grant for their work in non-lethal deer management. Although none of our local media attended, Oak Bay News ran this story: http://www.oakbaynews.com/news/318704801.html

Now on the CRD website:

The Chair of the CRD, Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen, is also on the Finance Committee.

“What I would feel most comfortable with … would be to say reduce the amount [that the municipality of Oak Bay would grant to UWSS] to $5,000 but give it to them based on them receiving the funding from the CRD,” said Coun. Hazel Braithwaite [Oak Bay]. “I would still like to see some of the education part go on and the count go on.”

With arrows shot through publicly funded deer signs, bullets fired at deer in broad daylight in the Uplands, and pro-cull councillors who want public education, deer signs and deer counts conducted and funded by grass roots groups, it appears that Oak Bay isn't the most progressive municipality in the CRD that should recieve the efforts and the expertise that the UWSS offers.

Urban deer don’t attract cougars

Times Colonist, Oct 18, 2015

Re: “Cougar sightings reason to cull deer,” letter, Oct. 7.


I would like to dispel a widely held but incorrect view: that urban deer are attracting cougars. I am a retired biologist with 35 years of experience in wildlife management.
In the late 1970s, the B.C. Fish and Wildlife Branch produced maps that illustrated the distribution and abundance of each of the province’s large mammal species. I did the extensive background research for the cougar map.
One common thread was cougars coming into Victoria. This is nothing new and has happened every year as far back as records have been kept. In 1973, a cougar was shot on the steps of the Carnegie Building at Yates and Blanshard. Around the same time, another one entered the main foyer of a downtown office building. In 1998, a cougar walked into the old office of Scott Plastics near Fisherman’s Wharf.
These are a few of many such cases. All of these examples were in the last century. Deer only became numerous in Victoria since the year 2000.
Cougars are territorial, and young ones are forced into marginal areas by mature cats that occupy the best territories. This sometimes means living nearer to people than the cougar would like.
Generally, cougars want nothing to do with people, and if you think about it, how would they even know the deer are here? Do people think there is a sign in cougar language at the top of the Malahat that reads: “For a good lunch, go to Oak Bay”?
John Thornton
Victoria

Police Investigate Alleged Shooting of Deer in Oak Bay

October 15, 2015 07:30 from Adam Stirling

“Oak Bay police are investigating the possible shooting of deer in the municipality last night.

Residents in the Uplands area reported seeing a white van around 7:30pm approach a group of deer assembled on a boulevard. What is believed to have been a gunshot rang out as the deer scattered.

A nearby homeowner says what appeared to be an injured buck took refuge in their back yard for a period of time after the incident.

Police inspected the scene today and found evidence of an animal losing significant amounts of blood, but there was no sign of the buck.

The van is described only as white and being a late-90s model. Anyone with any information is asked to contact police.”


We are NOT going to be terrified into using our tax dollars to bolt gun deer in the head because these frustrated gardeners "mean business." Our municipal leaders need to be cognizant of the violence that this shooting has perpetrated on us all by the thinly veiled threat that was intended by this cowardly act.

We want safe cities that manage wildlife using science and compassion. Anything else will leave us all vulnerable to the violent-minded.

A Young Family is Terrified by Anti Deer Violence

Deer shot in drive-by in front of Bragg Creek home

Family is shocked by incident and worried about two fawns left behind

CBC News Posted: Oct 07, 2015 7:07 PM MT Last Updated: Oct 07, 2015 9:08 PM MT

Mackenzie Walsh and her three-year-old daughter Tilly in front of their house where a doe with two fawns was shot by a man in a BMW. (Allison Dempster/CBC)

It was a drive-by worthy of a Disney script.
A deer and her two fawns had been regular visitors to the Walsh family's West Bragg Creek property since spring, enough that Mackenzie Walsh says they were "almost like pets to us."
So she and her family reacted with horror when a man drove up in a BMW last weekend and shot the doe in front of their home.

The doe was killed on the weekend in front of the Walsh family home in West Bragg Creek. (Walsh family) 

The gunshot startled her three-year-old daughter Tilly and sent her husband running out the door to confront the man.
"He said, 'Stop!', and the guy peeled off. And then Justin, my husband, went and looked and sure enough he had shot the mom deer 15 metres basically from where we were sitting in our living room," Walsh told CBC News.
"Had he missed it could've gone straight through our window."
Walsh says people in the area are outraged by the incident, and she's concerned for the two fawns, which the family has named Hope and Grace.
"She has these two babies that now have no mom," Walsh said. "And I know it is that time of year where they're getting weaned, but they're not weaned yet and they need to bulk up before winter comes and it comes fast here, so that's another concern."

Two fawns in Bragg Creek will have to face the winter alone after a man in a BMW shot their mother last weekend. (Walsh family)

Alberta Fish and Wildlife officers, as well as the RCMP, are looking into the incident, but have not yet identified the driver, who could face numerous charges including careless use of a firearm.
"Why did the deer die?" Tilly asks.
"When the mom died I heard that noise ... that 'boom.' It was really, really, really loud."

Taking Out the Trash in Kimberley

By Brenda Ann Babinski, e-know.ca
posted September 30, 2015

City of Kimberley council voted unanimously September 28 to adopt the new Solid Waste Regulations and Rates Bylaw No. 2520.
One of the purposes of the new bylaw amendment is to help minimize wildlife interaction with the waste management. The amendment includes the mandatory use of bins for garbage.  Leaving trash in bags on the curb attracts small wildlife and birds that can easily get through the plastic and into the trash.  The amendment requires homeowners set out their trash no earlier than 5 a.m. on their waste collection day.
The amended bylaw covers the separation of yard waste and recyclables from normal household garbage.  This change is meant to help reduce the impact on the regional landfill by encouraging residents to recycle.
Mayor Don McCormick says the City of Kimberley will be offering educational and promotional campaigns to the residents to help them understand the changes and assist in the implementation.