There are no easy solutions to the urban deer problem, only difficult ones. Oak Bay council has voted in favour of culling the municipality鈥檚 growing deer population and is turning to the Capital Regional District for help. It won鈥檛 happen quickly 鈥� Oak Bay wants the CRD to come up with a suitable plan, which then must have the blessing of the province.
Regardless of what solution is worked out, there will be opposition.
At one end of the spectrum are those who say the deer should be left alone, that they belong here and the humans are the interlopers. At the other end are those who see the ungulates as garden-destroying vermin that should be exterminated. Somewhere in the middle are people who suggest measures to cope, including erecting deer-proof fences, planting vegetation unpalatable to deer or trapping the deer to sterilize them or relocate them.
An urban environment is not a deer鈥檚 natural habitat. They flourish in our neighbourhoods because of the lack of predators and the abundance of palatable vegetation. The more food available, the more they will reproduce. Much of the vegetation the deer eat in gardens and yards is not good for them 鈥� it鈥檚 deer junk food.
In its natural habitat, the Pacific black-tailed deer browses on a wide variety of vegetation, depending on season and supply. When food is scarce, reproduction diminishes. Deer numbers are further kept in check by cougars and wolves. In the absence of four-legged predators, human hunters have filled that role.
Many of us are understandably distressed by the idea of deliberately killing urban deer. It seems unkind.
Yet there鈥檚 nothing kind about being chased down and torn to pieces by a pack of wolves, or being taken down by a cougar, which usually attacks the deer from behind and bites down through the back of the neck. It鈥檚 a terror-ridden, painful way to die.
But it鈥檚 the natural way, and it鈥檚 the deer鈥檚 lot.
Relocating the deer elsewhere isn鈥檛 an option. They tend to 鈥渉ome鈥� 鈥� if they are moved to nearby undeveloped areas, they will simply return.
Moving them to a more distant wilderness isn鈥檛 viable. If there are no deer in the new area, it鈥檚 likely because the area can鈥檛 support them. If there are already deer, the new ones will have to compete with the resident deer, and some will starve or fare poorly as a result.
Too many deer can also be a problem in a natural forest. Peter Arcese, professor of conservation biology at the University of British Columbia, has extensively studied the effect of deer populations in the Gulf Islands. He and fellow scientists have determined that on islands without predators, deer alter the mix of flora, leading to the extirpation of some plant species, such as blue camas, fawn lilies and trillium. Their browsing changes the forest understorey, lowering the number of bird species. The research shows that growing deer populations are preventing the regeneration of arbutus and Garry oak ecosystems.
Predation of deer is necessary if natural landscapes are to be restored, Arcese says.
His research doesn鈥檛 address the urban-deer issue, but he says that too many deer in an urban area can result in damage to nearby natural areas.
The only way to restore the deer to their natural state would be to banish humans and their activities (or fence the humans in) and bring back the predators.
Since that鈥檚 not likely to happen, it seems that we must become the predators.
It is not an attractive solution, but it might be a necessary one.
Maybe it would be easier if these beautiful, graceful creatures looked like rats.
