Certain residents of Penticton may be disappointed by city council’s decision to maintain the status quo with urban deer management in the community.

At the regular meeting on April 2, council heard an update from city staff about the current deer population in Penticton and other similar B.C. communities. Staff explained the city’s current approach to deer that are affecting residents largely relies on public education, and that options are limited when it comes to considering a cull or other population reduction measures, since deer are property of the Crown.

“The current approach to deer management within the city involves city staff sitting on a committee, organized by the regional district. Unfortunately, this committee has not met recently,” said Anothy Haddad, director of development services with the city. “The relationship will certainly be re-engaged with the regional district. It’s fallen by the wayside a little bit over the last couple of years so it’s just a matter of getting back on top of that.”

Haddad said that the provincial conservation office receives approximately 200 calls per year about urban deer in Penticton, with 80 per cent of those calls relating to injured deer. The city’s public works staff reported that they see 50 to 60 deer hit on Penticton roads per year.

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The issue of deer disturbing residents and their properties was brought to city council as a result of complaints filed by residents of Figueiras Mobile Home Park in late 2018. A total of 96 out of 117 residents responded to a survey in November 2018 and said they wanted to see immediate action taken to address the problem.

Staff and members of council with prior experience of the topic did note that this is not the first time in recent years that the city has been asked to address the problems caused by deer. The last time the City of Penticton performed an official deer count was in 2012, when 20 were counted in the spring and 49 were counted in the fall. It’s a statistic that Coun. Judy Sentes found disturbing, since the population can change greatly over the course of seven years.

“There’s a prevalence of urban deer within residential areas of the city, and that’s certainly grown over the last two decades. One main issue, staff believe, is with the installation of extensive deer fencing within the city’s agricultural area,” said Haddad. “So historically, the deer would move through the agricultural areas into the residential areas of the city and then back out, depending on the season and the availability of food and water sources.”

Haddad said last time city council addressed the subject was in 2014, when they implemented a population reduction strategy in conjunction with the Penticton Indian Band to facilitate a capture and relocation program. He said despite the cost of $1,000 per deer to capture and relocate, city council supported the intiative at the time.

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“Ultimately, though, as staff began to continue the application process, the cost to capture and relocate the deer, and the work necessary for this process to be approved by the province, was too onerous, and council decided to abandon the plan,” said Haddad. “Since then, no work has been undertaken by staff on the urban deer management strategy within the city.”

Part of maintaining the status quo will include utilizing the regional district’s WildSafeBC staff member, who has a mandate to assist with public education on urban deer management. Residents in Figueiras met with city staff and members of the regional district board to request a cull within their portion of the city, something Haddad said the province would not approve.

“In discussion with the wildlife professionals at the province, a wider city approach would need to be undertaken if it is determined there be a need for a cull, but only after a comprehensive community process has been undertaken,” said Haddad.

The proposal to instate a new committee, including members of the public, to conduct a new count of the deer population in Penticton was voted down.

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