With emotional animal-rights demonstrations outside city hall, Longueuil Mayor Catherine Fournier unveiled the details of the controversial deer hunt in Michel-Chartrand park.
After three long years of lengthy legal battles, the City of Longueuil will be going through with its contested deer cull in fall 2024.
Under the watchful eyes of a game warden, professional hunters will be tasked with the responsibility.
“This will done by professionals. They will be doing it with the best techniques,” Longueuil spokesperson Louis-Pascal Cyr said.
The city has warned that the white-tailed deer are contributing to road collisions, increasing the risk of Lyme disease in residents and travelling to nearby areas to seek food.
Quebec’s Court of Appeal in October upheld a decision authorizing the crossbow hunt after animal rights organizations and activists fought the plan in court.
Under the city’s plan, hunters will only be allowed to use crossbows and must fire 200 metres from homes and streets. Officials say local police will play a supporting role by closing off the park during the multi-day hunt.
“So it’s very sad to see Longueuil didn’t see a more progressive avant-gardist way of managing this wildlife,” said animal-rights activist Nathalie Moseley.
Cyr said the city has to “do what needs to be done to make sure the park remains with us for a long time.”
The city says the hunt will bring the white-tailed deer population down from 117 animals to a sustainable 15. The meat harvested during the fall hunt will be distributed to local community groups.
Fournier says the final price tag to cull the dear is unclear, but she says the legal fight has already cost the city $375,000.
— with files from The Canadian Press