The case of the Longueuil, Que., deer herd finally has made its way to a courtroom.
During proceedings at Quebec superior court in Longueuil Tuesday the judge heard from experts about how best to deal with an overpopulation of deer at the Michel-Chartrand park in Longueuil.
“These deer are not like deer in the forest who ae equipped with algorithms in their neurology to escape hunters,” said Sauvetage Animal Rescue lawyer Anne-France Goldwater. “These deer have learned to trust humans.”
This is the first time that the merits of the case are being heard since last fall, when a Quebec Court of Appeal ordered the City of Longueuil to wait before allowing the hunting of the deer at the park.
It followed a lower court ruling that would have permitted the municipality to carry out a cull by bow hunting, something animal rights activists are against.
“We can make a sterilization and we can capture the deer and make a relocation,” explained Richard Blanchette of the group Contre L’abattage Des Cerfs De Longueuil.
The debate about what to do with the animals has been raging for years and the population has tripled since 2017 to more than a hundred, though experts say the park can sustain just 15.
In 2021, a plan to relocate the deer by an animal rescue group was nixed because of ethical concerns over how it was to be done. Then the city decided to authorize a cull.
In court Tuesday, the plaintiffs in the case against the city insist that the municipality hasn’t considered all options.
“The intent this morning was to show to the court that the plan of the city and the provincial government to kill these animals at all costs is irrational and unreasonable,” Goldwater pointed out.
Lawyers for the city refused to comment.
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