About 50 people attended a public meeting to hear more about Saint John’s new Nuisance Deer Management Plan, which will allow a limited urban hunt this fall.
About 60 or so properties in the Millidgeville area of Saint John will be eligible to apply for special permits to allow people to bow hunt on their land. Each hunter can get one tag through the program free of charge, and land owners can be awarded several.
But some are worried the number of deer harvested won’t be enough to put a dent in the population.
“I don’t think that’s enough and I’d hate to see someone else come to some serious misfortune and know education that could have been done or sharing information could have been done, hasn’t been done yet,” said north-end resident Michael Carson.
The urban deer population has drawn the ire of Johners because of garden vandalism and it’s also raising safety concerns. Not only are people concerned about the spread of Lyme disease through deer-borne ticks, but also an increase in car accidents caused by the swelling population.
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WATCH: (Aug. 9, 2018) Saint John officials calling for plan to deal with growing deer population
Provincial deer biologist Joe Kennedy says he understands the public’s frustration but says patience is necessary when dealing with entrenched populations.
“We’ve always said that by harvesting the adult breeding females, we can lower the population over a longer period and we’re seeing that in the Kennebecasis Valley that we’ve stemmed population growth,” Kennedy said.
“So, we’re on top of population growth and now we’re going to start working on lowering the overall population.”
Saint John will now become the fourth community to allow a controlled urban hunt, joining Saint Andrews and neighbouring towns in the Kennebecasis Valley.
In February, Saint John council passed a bylaw prohibiting the feeding of deer. But that bylaw will not be enforced until next year, and infractions will not be fined until the year after.
Councillor Gary Sullivan says it’s important to get the message across that feeding deer is not okay and only makes them feel more at home in the urban environment.
“First people need to be reminded that it is now illegal to feed deer,” Sullivan said.
“We need deer to survive in their natural habitat and the suburbs is not their natural habitat.”
More information on the hunt can be found on the city’s website.
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