NEAR PENTICTON – Residents living on Carmi Road near Penticton are worried about the safety of their children after a deer carcass was left in a ditch near their homes. Now, nine days later, there’s still no word on who is responsible for removing the dead animal’s body.
“The smell is just driving me crazy,” says Mel Auld who lives in the 2000 block of Carmi Road. “You can smell it all the way into our house.”
Auld and his neighbors say a vehicle hit the deer more than a week ago. It’s not an uncommon occurrence on the winding Carmi Road, but what they weren’t expecting to hear were gun shots.
“I saw a conservation officer truck out here so I came down to see what was happening and what he did is shot the deer twice,” recalls Auld.
“They told us that it would be disposed of right away,” says Brian Poppe with nearby Penticton Speedway. “It’s starting to stink quite a bit and I’m not very happy about it. I think if they shoot an animal, they should have to look after getting rid of the carcass.”
While the deer isn’t causing safety concerns for motorists because it’s off to the side and in a ditch, there are still some other concerns.
“We have kids running around here and stuff and dead animals tend to bring coyotes and there has been a few wolves running around as well,” says Poppe. “I don’t imagine the cougars are eating very well out there in all this heat either.”
Poppe says in the 16 years he has lived in the area, he’s seen numerous vehicle and wildlife collisions, but nothing like this.
“I’ve never seen a dead animal sit around for this long before, especially when it’s been shot by a government employee,” he says.
So, whose job is it to remove this dead carcass from the side of the road which is just outside of Penticton city limits? Auld tried to find out.
“I phoned the regional district three times, I phoned the conservation department three times, I phoned the RCMP, I even phoned Argo Road Maintenance and everybody kind of refers it back to the conservation department,” says Auld.
Global News called all of those departments numerous times. Late Saturday afternoon receiving word that Argo would be sending someone to remove the carcass as soon as they have staff available. Auld and his neighbors are breathing a sigh of both relief and hopefully soon, less stench in the air as well.
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