101 replies to this topic

[GaryOak]

Yeah but it's cheaper than spending 500,000 every year to repair the damage done by the deer.

[Victoria Watcher]

Who is spending that amount? Isn’t most of the island private?

[GaryOak]

Not the park

[Victoria Watcher]

80% of the island is not park.

https://en.m.wikiped...i/Sidney_Island

[Matt R.]

Delicious meat. Back in the day we had Sidney island venison on the menu as they did an annual cull, processed by two rivers meats in Vancouver. Slight briny taste as the deer have stripped all the vegetation from the island and ended up eating seaweed and other shore plants.

[dkuitu]

Delicious meat. Back in the day we had Sidney island venison on the menu as they did an annual cull, processed by two rivers meats in Vancouver. Slight briny taste as the deer have stripped all the vegetation from the island and ended up eating seaweed and other shore plants.

 

Helps with the curing process

[Matt R.]

We had chops on the menu, small but delicious!

[GaryOak]

Now you'll have to source those Oak Bay deer

[Matt R.]

Oh I’m in a different world now… no more high end meat for this guy! Plus we have our own deer, way easier to catch since they don’t give af.

[Victoria Watcher]

The days of European fallow deer running free on Sidney Island are numbered.

 

Local First Nations and the federal government plan to get rid of every last one due to the damage they’ve caused to native plant populations and local ecosystems.

 

“The evidence very strongly shows us that fallow deer are having a very negative impact on the forest understory, and the forest understory is the linchpin in many ways to the overall health of that ecosystem,” says Kate Humble, superintendent of the Gulf Island National Park Reserve.

 

It’s part of a $5.9-million contract to restore the Coastal Douglas-fir forest’s natural ecosystem on Sidney Island.

 

 

https://www.cheknews...-ahead-1163074/

[spanky123]

^ Makes sense that they would want to get rid of the colonizing European deer. If they eradicate the black tailed deer then how would they return? 

[Nparker]

Total eradication sounds like a form of genocide.

[Victoria Watcher]

Balance of nature needed on Sidney Island

 

It is incredibly disappointing to read that, once again, the barbaric mass murder of deer by so- called “hunters” shooting from helicopters is even being considered.

 

This has to be the height of inhumanity and something of which we should all be ashamed. Surely there are sufficient willing hunters who would be more than happy to purchase two- or three-day licences to kill to their heart’s content.

 

Perhaps some venison could be harvested, too, for sale or charity. A willing boat owner would probably be happy to service the hunters during this killing season.

 

Alternatively, perhaps the emerging cougars in and around Victoria, having lost their own food supply due to our rapacious building projects, could also be relocated to Sidney Island to help restore a more natural balance of nature.

 

 

Chris Gabriel

Metchosin

 

 

https://www.timescol...ferries-7372168

[GaryOak]

I agree let's put a bunch of cougars, wolves and bears on Sidney island. Great plan.

[Barrrister]

Mr. Gabriel really needs to watch a documentary on Auschwitz or a dozen other wonderful historical events if he truly believes that this is the height of inhumanity.

[dasmo]

I’m pretty sure the band will be making deer sausage. I’m not sure what that guy envisions.

[Matt R.]

The meat won’t go to waste unless it has to.

[Victoria Watcher]

The mass killing of fallow deer by sharpshooters in helicopters and hunters on land with tracking dogs is expected to start between Nov. 25 and Dec. 15 on Sidney Island and continue for several days, according to Parks Canada.

 

That has prompted a rally on Friday at Sidney’s Beacon Park protesting the “inhumane” tactics and $5.9-million cost to eradicate the invasive species from the tiny island just a few kilometres from Sidney’s shores.

 

 

https://www.timescol...o-begin-7778264

[dasmo]

It’s way out of balance there. You can see it if you walk in the forest. No fern, no salal as soon as you are a bit away from the dock end. I’m sure many protesters are vegetarians. Won’t they think of the veggies rights to exist?

[Victoria Watcher]

Instead of $5.6 million, how much would it have cost to just import two cougars?