White tailed deer.Essdras M Suarez
They've beaten up dogs, caused traffic accidents and ravaged gardens.
Now, the mayor of Grand Forks, B.C. wants to hunt down the hooligans ravaging his town - hordes of white-tailed deer. Brian Taylor wants to open up hunting season on the animals - within the city limits - to bring down the surging population.
And he is urging local restaurateurs to buy up what is expected to be a glut of fresh venison.
"Why can't we market the meat - market it in Grand Forks in restaurants, and maybe even frozen for tourists who want to cook their own," Mr. Taylor asked. "Let's not waste it."
He said the proposed cull would not be a free-for-all. The municipality would modify its no-shooting bylaw and work with the province to ensure the cull did not violate the Wildlife Act.
The deer would be baited into an open area and shot, he said.
The growing population of deer is literally fed by Grand Forks. The deer, which are native to the area, feast on food available in gardens or directly provided by humans, according to Mr. Taylor. The town also shelters the animals from natural predators like cougars.
The municipality and the Environment Ministry do regular deer counts in designated areas of the town. The most recent count pegged the population of deer at 140, an increase of 100 per cent in the last year, Mr. Taylor said.
"They have reached a population level where they are not running out of food, but we are running out of patience," he said.
The deer are also getting aggressive, kicking dogs and making threatening gestures towards humans when fawns are around, Mr. Taylor said. Not to mention the traffic accidents.
ICBC reports that the annual number of car crashes involving deer in Grand Forks in the past five years has ranged between 105 and 135. A 48-year-old Grand Forks man was killed as recently as June after his motorcycle struck a deer on Highway 33.
Mr. Taylor will put the proposal on the table at the town's deer committee meeting in September, but he's been asking residents for their input and restaurateurs like Barry Becker whether they'd sell the meat.
"I think it would be a detriment to me to start shooting the deer that people are feeding in their backyards here. I'd rather just stay out of it," said Mr. Becker who recently opened the Rock Candy Café and Coffee House in town.
Jacquie Wolff, another local café owner, said people in Grand Forks wouldn't pay money to eat local venison they could hunt themselves.
"It's not going to fly in this area, let me tell you. Besides, there's not a lot of meat on the local guys," she said.