Longueuil will be able to proceed with the slaughter of overpopulated deer in Michel-Chartrand Park, according to a decision rendered Thursday by the Court of Appeal, which thus rejects the request of animal rights defenders opposing the City’s decision .
The three judges of the Court of Appeal therefore uphold the judgment rendered last August by the Superior Court, which affirmed that “the City [de Longueuil] and the MFFP [ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs] have put everything in place so that the controlled crossbow hunting operation is carried out while respecting the sensitivity of the deer, allowing their lives to be ended as gently and quickly as possible.”
Everyone agrees that the proliferation of these animals in the busy park leads to degradation of the vegetation and represents a danger for road safety. Longueuil obtained a permit from the MFFP in August 2022 to kill a maximum of 100 deer.
Opponents instead advocated moving the deer, but experts rejected this solution, stressing that the animals might not survive such an operation.
More details to come.