An article in the latest Focus magazine pretty much tells the Oak Bay deer cull facts as they are. It’s well thought out and written.
What was missing was the mention of a lack of transparency and the mistakes, half truths and pure fabrication which appear to be a deliberate intent to deceive the public.
Along with fear mongering about deer attacks and children being afraid to play outdoors, and let us not ignore the ultimate insult, deer feces in the park, the article mentions Mayor Jensen trumpeting safety as the main motivation for killing deer. This makes it seem rather odd that he has had the traps placed on private property rather than the area where most deer/vehicle collisions occurred.
There is a good chance that many of these garden deer have never been in the high-accident area. As far as strengthened signage, the addition of six deer warning signs is hardly a motivator.
Speed reduction in that high-accident area have fallen on deaf ears and the speed readers which are excellent deterrents were removed not long after they were installed.
There is much more but rather than I echo it in a letter I highly recommend the article be read by all, those for and against a cull.
William Jesse
Oak Bay
