The Société des establishments de plein air du Québec (SEPAQ) shot down a total of 399 white-tailed deer in the Îles-de-Boucherville and Mont-Saint-Bruno national parks, in order to reduce overpopulation in these two protected natural environments.
According to information transmitted Friday to Duty by SEPAQ, the “operation” to reduce the two herds was carried out “recently”. It made it possible to “take” 319 animals from the Îles-de-Boucherville National Park, out of a herd of at least 436 deer. In the Mont-Saint-Bruno national park, SEPAQ reports 80 animals slaughtered, out of a herd of at least 353 animals.
The permit that had been granted by the Quebec government to control deer populations in the two national parks provided that a total of 500 animals could be slaughtered as part of this operation. According to currently available data, before the culling operation, there were at least 660 excess deer in total in the two parks.
It must be said that the density of deer was clearly too high in the two parks, which caused damage to natural environments and had impacts on the habitat of other species. Excessive grazing by deer destroys vegetation and prevents its regeneration. The reduction in food at the Îles-de-Boucherville park also causes deer deaths every winter, while others have already left the park to go to residential areas of Boucherville.
Meat distributed
Although the operations have made it possible to reduce the herd in the two parks, SEPAQ “does not rule out having to carry out other operations in the years to come if the situation requires it”. The state-owned company adds that “the problem of overabundance of deer is a regional issue to which a regional solution must be applied.”
As for the meat from the 400 slaughtered animals, it must be sent to the Generous Hunters program of the Quebec Federation of Hunters and Fishermen “for redistribution to food banks”.
For comparison in terms of the number of deer to be culled to reduce herds, in February 2023 there were a total of 117 deer in Michel-Chartrand Park, while the optimal ratio is 10 to 15 deer. There would therefore be 102 to 107 deer too many in order to maintain the ecological balance in this Longueuil park, according to data provided by the City.
According to data from the Quebec Ministry of the Environment, a total of 55,318 white-tailed deer were killed in Quebec in 2022 as part of sport hunting, an increase of 17% compared to the 2021 hunting season.