Sidney Islanders disturbed as deer caught in fencing ahead of eradication plan

A controversial plan to eradicate invasive deer on a small B.C. island is facing more criticism. The next phase of killing European fallow deer on Sidney Island involves fencing them in before they're shot. But that plan is having some unintended consequences.

Over the weekend, some residents on the island were involved in two incidents where they discovered deer entangled in the netted fencing. In both cases, people were able to free the deer – which looked in distress.

“You can see that it’s stressed,” island resident Wendy Ord said during an interview on Tuesday, referencing a video of one of those incidents submitted to CTV News.

“That it’s bucking. It’s trying to get out of the netting…[b]y the time I got there, which was about 20 minutes later, the deer had become – it’s head was completely entangled in the net and it was exhausted and panicked, and laying on the ground.”

In the video, you can see people pinning the deer down as they cut it from the netting, before it’s able to burst free.

“I am wondering how on earth the BC SPCA could have condoned this project,” Ord added.

The government consulted the SPCA ahead of its eradication plan – and the animal welfare organization tells CTV it is asking Parks Canada questions about this to improve procedures.

“Owners that are untrained in wildlife management are having to rescue these poor animals out of the fence,” Sidney Island resident Carla Purves told CTV on Monday. “I mean, it’s just horrifying.”

The plan has been controversial from the start.

From the ballooning costs – at last check the price tag was $12.7-million – to the use of American and New Zealand-based snipers shooting deer from helicopters.

Beyond the money, there have been questions of effectiveness as well, with only 84 deer initially killed by the sharpshooters.

Some who have protested against the plan worry many more deer are getting stuck and suffering for extended periods at remote locations where people can’t see them.

“They are supposed to be checking the netting every day,” Ord said. “I don’t know how that is even possible. There are 35 kilometres of netting on this island. Thirty-five kilometres for some context is the distance between Vancouver airport and Horseshoe Bay.”

Parks Canada declined CTV’s request for an interview into the project aimed at restoring native vegetation but said in a statement it is investigating these incidents, adding that people should contact its agency rather than attempt to free wildlife in situations like this.

The fencing has been in place since July, and Parks Canada said it has only documented five cases of deer getting stuck, with four of those cases happening within the past week. It says one of those deer was euthanized.