In response to the filing of an appeal to challenge its plan to kill around sixty white-tailed deer in Michel-Chartrand Park, the City of Longueuil undertook on Wednesday to suspend the operation, which was scheduled for this fall. , until the case can be decided on the merits.
For the Montreal SPCA, which became a party to the litigation as an intervener, the case of the Longueuil deer is emblematic of an issue that is becoming increasingly important in Quebec: that of the responsible management of wildlife in our communities. With urban sprawl and climate change, providing sustainable and animal welfare-friendly solutions to overpopulation issues has become a pressing issue.
Our relationship with animals has changed enormously in recent years. Since 2015, Quebec law has recognized animals as “sentient beings” and also recognizes that we, as a society, have a collective responsibility to ensure their well-being. Proceeding by default to capture and kill wild animals, simply because they are considered “harmful”, is no longer socially acceptable today. We see it with the deer of Michel-Chartrand Park , but we have also seen it in other cases, such as that of the polar bear recently killed in the Gaspé, an event that prompted nearly 55,000 people to sign a petition demanding a public inquiry.
However, the “solution” that the City of Longueuil plans to implement in Michel-Chartrand Park is to capture the deer using traps, then put them to death using a percussion gun followed by a bleeding. This plan is problematic in several respects. First, the method of killing involves serious risks of injury and suffering. The percussion bolt gun is designed for use on restrained livestock in a controlled environment, such as a slaughterhouse.
To cause immediate loss of consciousness, the tool must be positioned directly on the animal’s skull and at a very specific location on it, which requires complete immobilization for at least a few seconds in a row. It would be difficult to achieve complete immobilization for several seconds of a wild deer struggling in a trap without resorting to strong sedation or anesthesia, elements that are not part of the City’s plan. In this context, the proper positioning of the percussion bolt pistol on the deer skull is almost impossible, which creates a significant risk of repeated failed attempts.
In fact, the percussion bolt gun is not considered an acceptable tool for wild animals in the free state, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, which publishes authoritative guidelines on the methods of euthanasia.
Then, according to the documents filed in support of the action, the City’s plan does not include any preventive component through the sterilization or chemical contraception of livestock intended to remain in Michel-Chartrand Park. The killing of around sixty deer would therefore only be a temporary solution. Deer in the park and their offspring will therefore have to be subjected to repeated lethal interventions, as the population increases over the years.
When we look at what is being done elsewhere, we see that it is possible to opt for responsible wildlife management, based on science and not relying on the use of lethal methods. In the community of Oak Bay, British Columbia, for example, a non-lethal urban cervid management strategy has been in place since 2019. After just one year of administering contraceptive vaccines, the relative abundance fawns had decreased by nearly 60%.
Interestingly, prior to the establishment of this program, Oak Bay had sunk over $150,000 into a capture and kill project where only 11 deer were trapped and killed. The method used, similar to that proposed by the City of Longueuil, had then caused an outcry.
It is imperative for Quebec to develop expertise in the type of approach finally implemented in Oak Bay. The problem of deer in Michel-Chartrand Park presents the ideal opportunity to test new population control methods in the form of a research project, in order to contribute to the development of scientific knowledge in this field.