Parks Canada says two deer have been killed in cougar attacks and another had to be euthanized after being tangled in the net fencing being erected on Sidney Island in preparation for a mass roundup and kill by sharpshooters set to begin in a couple of weeks.
A fourth fallow deer was discovered dead on Wednesday with its antlers entangled in netting and wounds on its legs.
“There were no [cougar] tracks around the deer that I could see, but the wounds look like it might have been attacked and then ran into the fencing, where it died,” said Sidney Island resident Steve Vipond, who found the dead deer.
Vipond said he’s heard there have been six dead deer in the past week, though Parks Canada could only confirm three deaths.
About 35 kilometres of aquaculture netting is being installed throughout the small island to divide it into kill zones for the final phase of a Parks Canada program to kill all the deer on Sidney Island — both invasive European fallow deer and native black-tail — and restore natural ecosystems browsed down by deer.
But the fencing is having unintended consequences, as deer are being caught and injured.
Since the fencing was installed in late July, five deer have been found entangled in the temporary fencing — four within the past week — with either Parks Canada project workers or residents freeing the animals.
In a statement, Molly Clarkson, resource conservation manager at Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, said when entanglements occur, Parks Canada consults with the Provincial Wildlife Health Program to figure out what to do with the injured wildlife.
One deer was euthanized after consultation with the B.C. Conservation Officer Service and local residents, she said.
Parks staff are not armed, but conservation officers carry firearms to dispatch injured animals.
Parks Canada said earlier this week it is doing daily patrols of the fencing to watch for entangled deer.
Clarkson said Sidney Island residents have been given contact information for both Parks Canada and the local project liaison.
Residents have been involved in at least two rescues of entangled deer, putting themselves at risk of being injured.
In both cases, the animals were exhausted from thrashing around to get out of the netting and could have died a slow, painful death, said resident Wendy Ord, who wondered why the B.C. SPCA would have signed off on the Parks Canada plan.
The $12-million multi-year effort to eliminate the fallow deer and restore the island’s native plants has been controversial, both for its steep price tag and the use of foreign sharpshooters and dogs, restricted weapons as well as helicopters for the deer kill.
In the initial phase of the deer kill over 11 days last December, U.S.- and New Zealand-based sharpshooters killed the animals from a helicopter during the day and on the ground at night.
That first phase cost $800,000, including $67,000 to lease a helicopter and $137,000 on firearms certification for international workers to use restricted weapons. But only 84 deer were killed — including 18 native black tail deer and three that couldn’t be identified.
Black-tail deer deaths are part of the plan, with the idea that the native species will again swim over and repopulate the island.
The final phase of the deer kill is expected to begin Nov. 15.
The island is closed as of Nov. 1 on the national park side, but the private land will remain open during the second phase, which is expected to last until late April, while hunters round up and kill the deer.
