This letter is sent to encourage Oak Bay council to maintain its resolve to initiate the CRD’s pilot urban deer cull. It took courage to accept the role as holder of the urban pilot project – but that action was and is also based on logic: Oak Bay is located furthest of all CRD municipalities from the forests and rural regions that would normally be considered as deer habitats, and yet we have had an exploding deer population over the past several years – as evidenced by the carnage on our roads, the increasing wariness of walkers and the on-going damage to our properties.
The spread of fences and gross-smelling sprays and powders do nothing to impede their relentlessly increasing numbers – and in fact, may actually be channeling the deer more and more towards the roads. (For Saanich politicians to continue ignoring their several times worse deer issue is so classically “head in the sand” that they may yet suffocate.)
Oak Bay council and residents should note that the various DeerSafe gatherings at the municipal hall, such as that on Jan. 3, were not well-attended and that many, if not most, participants do not live in Oak Bay.
As a point of reference, another capital region has had to face similar pressures and protests related to urban deer – and yet they did manage to work through various levels of jurisdiction to conduct a cull.
In closing, perhaps we should consider the term “urban deer” for what it is – i.e. an oxymoron – one that makes no more practical sense than “deafening silence” or “serious joke”.
Thank you and please carry on with what should be the start of a regional urban cull.
Dennis McCarthy
Oak Bay