Deer Hunt- Jenni Dunning

A fall deer hunt in the Sifton Bog will slash the highest density population of white-tailed deer in Ontario if approved by city councillors June 20.

The bog isn’t meant to hold its approximately 57 deer, said Dan Jones, an operations manager at the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, who has been telling councillors this for six years.

He will recommend to councillors at a meeting Wednesday to have a bow and arrow deer hunt to reduce the population to a more reasonable level, he said.

“Between 12 and 15 would be acceptable for a sustainable population of (white-tailed deer) in one square mile, which is (256 hectares),” he said.

Jones, who specializes in environmentally significant areas, meets with councillors every three months to discuss education and enforcement issues about London’s six natural areas administered by Upper Thames.

The bog, located at the corner of Oxford Street and Hyde Park Road, is about 28 hectares, meaning the animals are overpopulated in that area, he said.

A number of factors explain an increased deer population, including about a 30 per cent higher breeding rate and no natural enemies to keep numbers down, he said.

To have a fall hunt, paperwork must be completed by the end of July, but Jones said he has been unsuccessful in influencing councillors’ decisions in the past.

“We always bring (the hunt) up. My job is to bring (them) the information and then the councillors make the choice,” he said. “They don’t understand, they’re not (in the bog). There will have to be a harvest.”

At past meetings, councillors have asked for more information on the deer and proposed other options, such as better fencing, which accounts for a delay in the hunt, said Jones.

Although the conservation authority owns about 90 per cent of the bog, “we would have to have the City of London’s approval . . . and support” for a hunt, he said.

The city and Drewlo, a real estate company, own the rest of the property.

But killing deer in the city is a political bomb with which councillors are weary to get involved, said Jones.

“It’s a controversial issue, politically,” said David Winninger, a city councillor and chair of the community and protective services committee. “I don’t know how much of an appetite there is for going out and slaughtering deer.”

He said councillors aren’t pushing for a hunt because they’re not convinced it’s necessary.

Vegetation studies and a winter aerial survey of the bog about three years ago suggest a hunt is not yet needed, said Winninger.

“(The survey showed) there seemed to be less deer than we were told,” he said. “We were told in between 50 to 60 deer but only (23) could be determined.”
Public opinion on the issue is mixed.

Londoners have taken action for and against a hunt in the bog, such as complaining to conservation authorities that deer are eating their plants, or putting up signs that read, How could you kill Rudolph?

There have also been similar deer concerns across Canada within the last two years—from Edgerton, Alta. to Hampton, N.B.—including animal rights, road safety and deer diseases.

But a hunt is positive and would save the city money in the long run, said Jones.

For example, it costs $150 to $200 to pick up and cremate one dead deer, which can weigh up to 270 pounds, he said.

There were 149 deer roadkills in London last year, with about 15 around the perimeter of the bog, according to a 2006 report compiled from police records.

Jones said it’s too early to estimate a budget for a hunt, but that less deer in the bog means lower costs for enforcement of the animals’ actions.

More deer are getting hit by cars partially because of the effects of nearby land development and expansion, said Jones, adding the deer had access to about 59 hectares before any construction began.

The bog will “never” be developed because the city protects its conservation rights, said Jones, but a housing complex called Marsh Trails is being built directly south of the bog on private land that used to be bean fields.

The beans were part of the deer’s food, so without them they are decimating the bog’s plant life and are venturing into the surrounding residential areas looking for something to eat, he said.

“They started to go to backyards and wherever they could,” he said, adding some people also leave out buckets of cabbage for them. “The deer are so domesticated they have no sense of what they’re supposed to be doing.”

While Jones said this is wrong, other area residents said the deer should be protected no matter what.

“I think we should stop building everywhere and keep our natural areas where they should be instead of taking away all their land,” said Carrie Bernardo, 28, who lived on Quinton Rd., a five-minute walk from the bog, for one year.

She saw a deer running down Valetta Street near Westdale Public School and said it was “sad” to see it away from the bog.

“I was scared because it saw my (headlights) and it started running really fast down the sidewalk,” she said.

But Jones said he doesn’t mind the complaints “because it throws a question in the councilors’ minds” about the deer hunt.

“I don’t see what else can be done,” said Bill Judd, 91, a retired biology professor at the University of Western Ontario who has been researching the bog since 1956. “The point of the thing is that they’re over-protected so the population exploded.”

Judd, who has written over 50 articles on the bog, said white-tailed deer were “scarce” in the 1960s but their current numbers need to be controlled.

“The deer feed on shrubs,” some of which “don’t occur anywhere else in the area,” he said.

“Someone’s going to have to sit down and settle it.”