When the deer cull was announced, one of the biggest concerns listed for mayor and council were the motor vehicle incidents involving deer.
In a November 2013 article in the newspaper, the mayor stated that 23 deer carcasses were picked up by public works crews already.
According to statistics from Oak Bay’s public works from the end of August 2013 there were only nine involving vehicles.
This year, until the end of May, there have been 15 deer deaths but only six from car accidents. The remainder were from other causes, some unknown, some from injuries, possible illness and one shot with an arrow.
Obviously looking at these numbers, car incidents do not make up the biggest problem.
Because a deer falls and dies must there be a cull? Deer will die from other reasons in other municipalities and even in the wild.
Announcing that a large number of deer have died in a municipality should not confuse the reader into believing they were all vehicle related.
William Jesse
Oak Bay
