High jumping deer

Fighting to stop the deer culls of British Columbia.

"You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant." -- Harlan Ellison

First: My friend, Colleen Bailey, is not stupid, not ignorant and, in spite of her delightfully self-deprecatory sense of humor, she is not ill-informed. Nor are her colleagues who, collectively, form a coalition of citizens trying to fight city hall, a collation based primarily in small-town British Columbia, but with supporters from elsewhere, including me. And yet it is safe to say they, we, have disparagers.

Colleen recently described one in an e-mail. He is a co-worker in her office in the lovely town of Cranbrook. He told her she must be glad the fight was over. That was the fight to stop the town from trapping deer in the night, jumping on them and driving bolts deep into their brains, in order to reduce their numbers. Colleen said no, we're still interested in promoting non-lethal methodologies for resolving such conflicts as occur between deer and humans - some humans, anyway, the ones who seem to be driving the town's policies. Mind you, we do claim some victory; the cull had just ended, six deer shy of the town's stated quota - the number below which concerns about deer would, we are supposed to think, disappear.

The facts are different. We know that in a town in Minnesota there was 110 deer, they culled 52 animals, and the following year, counted 109. If that finding were backed up by similar ones, it would demonstrate that, in fact, after culls numbers often rebound to levels higher than before, especially if there is surrounding viable habitat, which is the case in Cranbrook. Well, there are similar results from elsewhere, as well as in Cranbrook. Culls don't work and can backfire. But here's the problem; by knowing this, that the effort is wasted, we are criticized. To satisfy people like Colleen's co-worker, we have to share his level of ignorance.

When Colleen pointed out that in cases where there is vegetation to be protected from deer, fencing works, including temporary fencing only five feet tall, he said no, he knew of deer that jump eight foot fences. That would, of course, defy the laws of physics. But also it begs the question of how Colleen's partner, who manages the Cominco Gardens in Kimberly, is able to keep the most delicious (to deer) plants protected from deer! But no.Colleen's colleague claims that all the experts, information, experience and the laws of physics are wrong, and we are at fault for knowing better. Worse, it appears he and his ilk are the ones listened to.

I could go on. One e-mail talked about deer eating every plant in sight, an accusation so absurd as to be laughable, except, like the guy talking about deer jumping eight foot fences, city council seems to take the uninformed seriously; it's the informed they don't like.

Why?

Fear is an important survival tool, for sure, but in Cranbrook it appears to be out of hand. Not only is there physical fear of deer that is vastly disproportional to the actual threat, but there is fear of facts, of informed opinion, of ideas. It's all rather pathetic.

Barry K. MacKay
barry@bcdeerprotection.org

Barry welcomes respectful, intelligent commentary and is willing to post and reply to such items below.