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LETTER: Deer population a plague on Victoria

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A deer herd that has plenty to eat and is not hunted by humans or other predators will double in size every three years.

If you start with 10 deer you will have 320 in 15 years and 2,560 in 24 years.

At some point deer form herds. Does Victoria want herds roaming around the neighbourhood?

Deer do not contribute positively to our community:

  • Deer eat flowers so there goes the bees and butterflies
  • Deer eat the berries that grow on shrubs that the birds rely on
  • Deer create car accidents
  • Deer attack dogs and threaten people. Mind you, it’s probably just a matter of time that a child playing in its own backyard or in a city park will experience an attack. If an attack happens in a city park how will you feel about it? Will the parents sue the city because they didn’t even try to control the deer population?
  • Deer are carriers of ticks
  • Deer entice cougars into neighbourhoods.

Why is it possible for conservation officers to shoot cougars but they are not allowed to shoot deer?

I would like to share my deer encounter experience.

Last fall I was in my backyard on my hands and knees working on a flower bed when I was suddenly not alone. A buck with a big set of antlers jumped over the neighbour’s fence and landed within six feet of where I was crouched.

It scared the liver right out of me. He obviously had not seen me there and could have very easily landed on me.

Deer don’t belong in the city and need to be eliminated before they cause even more problems.

J. C. Siemens

Victoria