Urban deer problems to be addressed by new committee, provincial cash

VANCOUVER – The B.C. government is taking aim at the problem of urban deer.

The Ministry of Forests says the province is committed to creating a Provincial Urban Deer Advisory Committee and providing up to $100,000 for future urban deer management projects.

Forests Minister Steve Thomson says in a news release that the new committee will ensure the province works together with communities trying to resolve problems caused by habituated deer.

Several municipalities in southern B.C., the Kootenays and Vancouver Island have resorted to culling deer in often controversial programs.

Disagreement over a cull in Invermere led to a bitter and expensive legal battle that ended last year with the B.C. Supreme Court rejecting claims about lack of public consultation from the Invermere Deer Protection Society.

Since then, Princeton and Penticton have both considered an urban deer relocation program, although Penticton rejected the plan, while a society in suburban Victoria is seeking permission to use birth control on deer in Oak Bay.