An overpopulation of white-tailed deer has caused 103 collisions in three years with cars in Montreal and threatens the biodiversity of a nature park in Anjou without the authorities being upset.
After Longueuil and Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Montreal is struggling with an overpopulation of white-tailed deer – colloquially called roe deer – which cause security problems in addition to affecting the biological balance of public forests.
Of the 103 accidents involving at least one white-tailed deer on the island of Montreal between 2019 and 2022, 98 were geolocated by the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) between 2019 and 2022. Of this number:
- 61 took place east of Henri-Bourassa Boulevard;
- 26 took place on Henri-Bourassa Boulevard;
- 21 took place on Highway 40;
- 13 took place on Sherbrooke Street.
During three on-site exploration missions in five days last week, The newspaper noted that a herd installed in Bois-d’Anjou, adjacent to the Metropolitan Golf Course, has spilled over into the neighboring streets and even along the Metropolitan highway (40).
None of these accidents caused human deaths, but the situation is serious enough to have justified the installation of a road sign from the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility.
Collisions are so frequent that an official sign from the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility has been installed signifying “presence of white-tailed deer” along Chemin du Golf d’Anjou.
Photo Mathieu-Robert Sauvé
There are so many deer that you can take photos of them from the Costco store parking lot, at the corner of Golf and Sciences boulevards.
There are so many white-tailed deer around the Boisé-d’Anjou Nature Park that you can photograph them from the Costco store parking lot.
Photo Mathieu-Robert Sauvé
Almost daily
“I see deer every day when I come for a walk here,” says Roger Leblanc, director of operations at Alpha Meat, a cured meat company located on Boulevard du Golf in Anjou.
Almost every lunchtime, he puts on his snowshoes and wanders through the Bois-d’Anjou nature park in search of a moment of tranquility. But this Boucherville resident who identified at least four adult males in this forest in recent months knows the effect of these herbivores in an ecosystem.
“They graze all day, which ends up having an effect on biodiversity,” continues the observer.
Roger Leblanc, who works in the sector, regularly comes to walk in the Bois-d’Anjou nature park. He sees white-tailed deer “almost daily” there.
Photo Mathieu-Robert Sauvé
This is a reality well documented by biologists. One impact is the uncontrolled spread of an invasive exotic species, such as the common buckthorn, which has roots that release chemical compounds that prevent the growth of other plant species.
The ash tree, already decimated by the borer, is finished off by the deer, which appreciates its leaves. The aspen and chokecherry also suffer from the presence of deer.
The deer in the Boisé-d’Anjou nature park graze right down to the bark of the trees. It is well documented that large herbivores impact biodiversity, particularly native vegetation.
Photo Mathieu-Robert Sauvé
Expert committee
At the City of Montreal, we were refused the requested interview with the person responsible for large parks or with a biologist capable of clearly explaining the managers’ position.
Public relations officer Laurianne Tardif responded by email to our questions, mentioning that a “technical and scientific committee” was created in September 2022 to “respond to the problem of the overabundance of white-tailed deer in eastern Montreal.” It is impossible to know the composition of this committee.
In a report dated March 2021 obtained thanks to the Access to Information Act, specialized biologists from Laval University clearly exposed the problem and recommended the slaughter of 40 deer in the nature park of the Pointe-aux-Prairies, where the Anjou herd in all likelihood comes from. It was a shock treatment on a herd of 55 heads.
Nothing has been done until now, confirms Mme Late.
The researchers mention that deer from Pointe-aux-Prairies, where they are in overabundance, can escape along a railway line leading directly to Bois-d’Anjou. The representative of Newspaper also surprised two deer and saw numerous tracks at this location.
This report discussed the problem of road collisions involving white-tailed deer in eastern Montreal, known since 2011.
The Bois-d’Anjou Nature Park is located in a highly urbanized area surrounded by roads. A herd of white-tailed deer has settled there.
Photo Mathieu-Robert Sauvé
The saga of the Longueuil deer
The deer in Michel-Chartrand Park, in Longueuil, which numbered 32 in 2017, have reproduced, and today there are 117. In 2020, the mayor announced the capture and euthanasia of around fifteen deer, a decision which was modified in favor of moving the deer. But this approach was rejected by an ethics committee. We had to start everything from scratch.
Last December, the City of Longueuil presented a new plan consisting of slaughter, but the organization Sauvetage Animal Rescue opposed it all the way to the Superior Court. This then the Court of Appeal rejected his arguments and gave the green light to the City to slaughter up to 100 animals.
Threatened with death for announcing the slaughter
Solutions to avoid the effects of an overpopulation of deer exist, but they are unpopular with the population.
“We can understand the hesitation of elected officials who must take into account social acceptance, but the culling of part of the herd is the only realistic solution to the proliferation of white-tailed deer in urban areas,” says at the end from the thread Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin, political analyst and former mayor of Gatineau, who bluntly defends this approach.
On several occasions between 2021 and 2023, the mayors of Longueuil, Sylvie Parent then Catherine Fournier, received death threats from people opposed to the slaughter of excess deer in Michel-Chartrand Park. The Sûreté du Québec conducted investigations into these threats.
No less than 55,000 deer are killed each year by hunters in Quebec without causing outrage, he adds.
Alternative solutions to slaughter exist, but they are difficult to implement, according to wildlife veterinarian Stéphane Lair, professor at the University of Montreal. “It is not impossible to sterilize females, but it is extremely expensive and complex. This has been done in a few urban parks in the United States. But the question is: why?
In his opinion, we must proceed as in the parks of Mont Saint-Bruno and Îles-de-Boucherville, where nearly 400 deer were slaughtered without fanfare. Several complaints from citizens claiming that deer were eating their gardens or hedges added to the arguments linked to the ecological harm of deer.
According to experts from Laval University who studied the case of Pointe-aux-Prairies Park, the worst method is to “let nature take its course.” This approach does not help reduce negative effects on landscaping, road safety or the transmission of zoonoses, and shifts costs to future generations.
This is the one that has been applied until now in Montreal.