Speed readers installed in deer hot-spots are the latest step in the deer management plan for Oak Bay. Now council awaits a staff report, expected by fall.
“That’s our next step,” said mayor Nils Jensen. “We’re expecting, by the end of the summer, to get an update from our staff as to where we are on the deer management strategy. It’s an ongoing project and staff are carrying out the terms of reference.”
Part of their work right now is awaiting an update from the province on traps available for use in the planned deer cull.
“Traps have to be used if we’re going to be permitted by the province to cull their deer,” Jensen said. “We had fully expected them to provide those traps but they don’t have them.”
In February, 10 clover traps were stolen from a government compound in Cranbrook where they had just been transferred after use for a cull in the District of Elkford. Six were found nearby, most burned and destroyed. The theft delayed Kimberley’s planned cull of up to 30 mule deer and put a significant dent in the traps the province has to loan to communities licensed to cull.
District staff are also working with the Capital Regional District as it’s a joint urban deer management pilot project between the CRD and B.C. The plan includes spending $12,500 to cull up to 25 deer that would be butchered with the meat, hooves and antlers offered to the Songhees Nation.