Another Vancouver Island city has been hit by a wave of urban deer poaching, and at least four deer have been shot with crossbows in the last three weeks.
A doe with an arrow through the back of its neck has been spotted several times in the Hammond Bay area of Nanaimo in recent days. On Monday, it was seen on a property on Planta Road.
Caretake John Saunders said he first spotted the wounded deer on Dec. 23.
"It's obviously a trend. Someone's out there having fun, taking potshots at deer," he said. "It's dangerous for us, for everyone in the neighbourhood. How else to put it other than: alarming and disgusting?"
Conservation officers located the doe and tranquillized it so the arrow could be removed. The projectile has the same brand name and fletching as arrows taken from two other animals in recent weeks.
A female deer was spotted in the Fillinger Crescent area with an arrow leading through her jaw and out the back of her neck, and a buck needed an arrow removed from its snout.
On Sunday, photographs were taken of another male deer with an arrow through its neck.
Conservation officers say they're disgusted by the recent shootings.
"It makes me sick. This isn't hunting -- this isn't even close to hunting. Whoever's doing this isn't even using an arrow that's designed for hunting purposes. It's just plain sick. Who knows which ones are running around that we don't even know anything about?" Sgt. Ben York said.
Nanaimo is the second Vancouver Island city to grapple with urban deer hunting in recent months. Since the end of October, residents of Saanich have made at least seven separate discoveries of dead or injured deer and animal parts.
