The City of Cranbrook conducted a cull of urban deer from Feb. 22 to March 5, 2015 and during that time four deer were captured and put down.
The city had a permit that extended to March 15, but the cull had to be cut short due to vandalism to four of the six clover traps used to capture the deer.
The RCMP investigation is still ongoing, the city reported in the Urban Deer Management 2015 annual report, presented to council on Monday.
Of those four mule deer that were captured and dispatched, one was an adult buck and three were adult does. None of the does were pregnant.
In all, that meant 96 pounds of venison was distributed between the Cranbrook Food Bank, the Ktunaxa Nation Street Angels and the Salvation Army.
The contractor also captured two white-tail deer — a doe and a buck — both were released unharmed.
Coun. Norma Blissett asked why, if the city had a permit to cull both mule deer and white tail, it only euthanized mule deer.
Chris Zettel, the city’s corporate communications officer, noted generally the province issues a permit for both species.
“But because we’ve found over the last couple of years that the majority of the complaints are focused on mule deer, that’s where the majority of the cull was to be focused and that’s why we had given our contractor that direction,” Zettel said.
Council set aside a budget of $12,750 for the program. The total cost ended up being $5,187, including taxes. The quote from the contractor was for a minimum invoice of 10 deer at $494 per animal.
The cost also included placement and tear down of each clover trap, purchase of bait and supplies, liability insurance, provincially mandated equipment training, mileage, vehicle cleaning, as well as processing, packaging and distribution of the meat and all associated contractor administration costs.
