Vancouver Police say a young deer was struck and killed by a car in Stanley Park Sunday night. The deer was struck around 7:30 p.m. near the Lions Gate Bridge.
Two cars were damaged in the incident and the deer has now been recovered and turned over the animal control.
It it likely that the deer is the one known as the downtown deer. The Park Board said they believe the deer was the only one in Stanley Park right now and it was very friendly towards humans. In late August, a Global News crew was on location in Stanley Park when a deer approached them.
Footage posted to YouTube last month showed a woman petting a deer and allowing it to lick her hands. The woman and a man also comment on how tame the deer is. It is believed this deer was also the one known as the downtown deer.
Park Board staff expressed concern at the time that the deer was becoming too accustomed to humans and they worried it was going to end up getting hit by a car.
“The deer had become habituated to people feeding and petting it. I want to emphasize how important it is for people to maintain an appropriate distance from wildlife such as deer, raccoons and coyotes,” said Vancouver Park Board biologist Nick Page in a statement. “Contact with people can cause animals to become dependent and aggressive towards humans.”
According to the Vancouver Park Board says habituated deer “cannot often be released successfully into the wild. It would have either become a problem somewhere else or died due to being unable to fend for itself.”
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