An Oak Bay woman was left with minor injuries after a deer herd charged and stomped on her in her backyard on Monday, police said.
The herd was in a yard at a home located at Crescent Road and Foul Bay Road, said a news release.
From 2016: Frustration in Oak Bay over deer population
The woman said she heard a “commotion” in the yard and found several deer there.
As she opened the gate to let them leave, the deer ran in her direction, knocking her over and stomping on her.
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Police said it’s possible that the deer saw her as a threat to a young fawn that ran out of the yard.
READ MORE: Deer on birth control? Yes, that’s happening in Oak Bay
Oak Bay Police said in their news release that wild animals are likely to both aggressively and forcefully defend their offspring against anything they may see as a threat.
They advised people to avoid conflicts by keeping a safe distance from wildlife.
The attack came just under two years after the District of Oak Bay partnered with the Urban Wildlife Stewardship Society (UWSS) on a birth control project to reduce the deer population by half over five years.
The project was to see female deer vaccinated with contraceptives.
That was to be the second part of a deer management strategy that would first see researchers monitor deer movements, density and population size using collars.
“If the density and movement pattern research indicates that the population of deer in Oak Bay is very likely at capacity, it will be more effective to first stabilize and then reduce the population with a contraceptive vaccine instead of a dramatic reduction in the population through culling,” said a 2017 statement from UWSS.
Culling, it said, could result in “reproductive rebound,” which would see deer breed at younger ages and produce more offspring, birthing twins and triplets instead of individual fawns.
A 1990 report on deer hunting in New Jersey showed increased birth rates among female deer during hunting seasons in which they were the targets.
The birthrates “not only replaced the ones killed, but increased the overall size of the herd.”
- With files from Jill Slattery
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