Deer deaths and increasing entanglements on Sidney Island

Parks Canada says two deer have died in cougar attacks and another had to be euthanized after it became entangled in a chain-link fence being erected on Sidney Island in preparation for a mass roundup and killing by sharpshooters scheduled to begin in a few weeks .

On Wednesday, the fourth fallow deer was found dead with its horns tangled in a net and wounds on its legs.

“There were no signs (of the cougar) around the deer, but the wounds look like the animal was attacked and then ran into a fence where it died,” said Steve Vipond, a Sidney Island resident who found the dead deer.

Vipond said he heard six deer were killed last week, although Parks Canada could only confirm three deaths.

About 35 kilometers of aquaculture netting has been installed across the small island to divide it into kill zones for the final phase of Parks Canada’s program to eradicate all deer on Sidney Island – both invasive fallow deer and native cervids – and restore them to their native state . natural ecosystems browsed by deer.

However, fencing has unintended consequences as deer are trapped and injured.

Since the fence was installed in late July, five deer have been found entangled in the temporary fencing – four in the last week – and Parks Canada project staff or residents have freed the animals.

In a statement, Molly Clarkson, resource conservation manager at Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, said that when entanglements occur, Parks Canada consults with the Provincial Wildlife Health Program to figure out what to do with injured wildlife.

She said one deer was euthanized after consultation with BC’s conservation officer and local residents.

Park workers are not armed, but conservation officers carry firearms to dispatch injured animals.

Parks Canada said earlier this week that it was patrolling the fence daily to look out for entangled deer.

Clarkson said Sidney Island residents have been provided with contact information for both Parks Canada and the local project liaison.

Residents were involved in at least two rescues of entangled deer, exposing themselves to the risk of injury.

In both cases, the animals were exhausted from thrashing to get out of the netting and may have died a slow, painful death, said resident Wendy Ord, who wondered why the BC SPCA had signed off on the Parks Canada plan.

The multi-year, $12 million effort to eradicate fallow deer and restore the island’s native vegetation has been controversial, both for its high price tag and the use of foreign sharpshooters and dogs, restricted weapons and helicopters to kill deer.

In the initial phase of the deer killing, which lasted 11 days last December, sharpshooters from the US and New Zealand killed the animals from a helicopter during the day and on the ground at night.

This first phase cost $800,000, including $67,000 to lease the helicopter and $137,000 to issue a firearms certificate for international workers to use restricted weapons. However, only 84 deer were killed, including 18 native black deer and three that could not be identified.

Part of the plan is to kill the black-tailed deer, assuming native species will re-swim and repopulate the island.

The final phase of deer killing is expected to begin on November 15.

The island has been closed since November 1 on the national park side, but private land will remain open in a second phase, which is expected to last until the end of April, when hunters will catch and kill deer.

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