This text is taken from the Courrier de la Planète of July 5, 2022. To subscribe, click here.
The City of Longueuil has decided to suspend the plan to cull approximately 60 white-tailed deer from Michel-Chartrand Park, due to legal action launched by opponents. This decision does not, however, change the plans of the Society of Outdoor Establishments of Quebec (SEPAQ), learned The duty. It remains on course for its objective of “reducing” the herd of deer in two national parks in the region which have a total of at least 350 animals in excess.
Faced with a legal action in the Superior Court led by Anne-France Goldwater on behalf of the Sauvetage Animal Rescue group, the City of Longueuil put its deer slaughter project on hold in mid-June, although it was planned for fall. Opponents refuse to allow the animals to be killed, even if overpopulation in Michel-Chartrand Park threatens the ecosystem. They plead for the sterilization or the relocation of certain animals.
However, this new chapter in a saga that has been going on since the fall of 2020 will not prevent SEPAQ from moving forward with its project to reduce the herds of white-tailed deer in Parc national des Îles-de-Boucherville and in that of Mont-Saint-Bruno.
According to what the Crown Corporation responded to the To have to, “the SEPAQ teams are continuing to draw up an intervention plan for the protection of natural environments which will determine the methods of control for the reduction of the herd”. This plan “will also determine the places and windows of intervention as well as the necessary permit applications”.
“Selective Hunting”
The email sent by SEPAQ does not mention the killing of deer. Earlier this year, The duty had nevertheless revealed that the SEPAQ planned to kill at least 200 deer over the next few months, as part of a “selective hunt”.
This measure was deemed necessary because of the significant overpopulation of cervids in the two national parks, which constitute favorable environments for these animals, which have no natural predators there. The decision was therefore made to protect the ecosystems, but it should also reduce the number of young deer who starve in winter in these parks under the responsibility of the Quebec State.
SEPAQ would like to return to a deer density that would be more in line with “the support capacity of the environment”. This is five animals per square kilometer (km2), according to available scientific data.
However, the density of deer in the two parks is significantly higher. It is at 30 animals per km2 in the Îles-de-Boucherville park, which represents 250 deer too many. As for the Mont-Saint-Bruno park, the density is 15 animals per km2, an excess of at least 100 animals. To reduce livestock so as to preserve biodiversity in these two protected environments, which is part of SEPAQ’s mission, it would therefore be necessary to slaughter 350 animals.
52,862 deer killed
Some 200 pages of emails obtained earlier this year by The duty under the access to information law, and partly redacted, show that the SEPAQ was working on a “pilot project” of selective hunting from the spring of 2020. This project was to tackle overpopulation in the two national parks , a problem that has been known for several years. However, the pilot project never came to fruition.
While some have associated the slaughter of approximately 60 white-tailed deer in Michel-Chartrand Park in Longueuil with a “massacre”, data from the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks indicate that tens of thousands of deer are killed every year as part of sport hunting.
In 2021, 52,862 deer were legally killed in Quebec, including 5,041 “calves”. In 2020, the ministry reported 48,424 animals slaughtered. Between 2015 and 2020, more than 350,000 white-tailed deer were killed in the province.