Deer cull in Penticton trailer park may not be in the cards

PENTICTON – Residents of Figueiras Mobile Home Park in Penticton may not be getting any help from the city in their request to sanction a cull of urban deer making their home in the park.

Penticton City Council will be asked to accept a staff recommendation to maintain the status quo in regards to its approach to urban deer management at its regular council meeting on Tuesday, April 2.

The recommendation comes as a result of staff findings following a delegation from the park appearing in front of council at the Nov. 30, 2018 meeting where they outlined the impact a herd of urban deer were having on the mobile park’s residents.

Staff are recommending the city continue working with the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen on a regional approach to deer management and with the B.C. Conservation Service with regard to aggressive or injured deer within city limits.

All other deer issues would be dealt with on an event by event basis.

In the staff report, Director of Development Services manager Anthony Haddad noted the city’s population of urban deer had increased over the past 20 years but not to the same degree as the numbers affecting other B.C. communities such as Kimberley, Invermere or Grand Forks.

Haddad noted significant resources had been spent for relatively minor population reductions in those other communities.

The report also noted culling a specific location or neighbourhood would not be supported by the province, and any solution considered for Figueiras Mobile Home Park would have to be applied on a municipality-wide basis.

If the city were to embark on a deer control program, amendments to the 2019 budget would be needed to include additional staff hiring and or consultants, as the city has no one specialized in wildlife control.

The city’s status quo includes continuing to work with the regional district, WildSafeBC and the Conservation Officer Service on public education and case-by-case deer human interactions.

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