Gabriola deerA woman in Nanaimo wants a bylaw that would prohibit people from feeding deer. The Nanaimo Daily News reports: Kindness may be killing urban deer

A big problem with feeding wildlife is they become overly dependent on humans, said conservation officer Ron Heusen.

"Being habituated, they cross the same stretch of roads and end up getting hit,” Heusen said. “We invariably see more deer getting hit in those areas where people are feeding them." (…)

"We pick up more deceased deer in areas where they’re heavily fed," said Helen Roberts, city animal shelter manager. "It upsets the balance of nature. They’re fat, they’re healthy, they’re not just producing one fawn a year, they’re producing twins and triplets. It’s like any animal, when they’re well fed they reproduce more."

Roberts said she’s heard ICBC reports of "astronomical numbers" of car damage from collisions with deer, and in her experience much of that damage happens in neighbourhoods where residents feed the animals.[continue]

Although the proposed bylaw wouldn’t apply to Gabriola, it sure makes me think of the deer situation here.

There are often deer on the road on Stephens, usually on the block near the police station and the block where the post boxes are, just past Dirksen. Why are deer there instead of in the forest? Because some lady on Stephens feeds the deer. She feeds the deer who jumped in front of my car last week.

And somebody is feeding deer down on Whalebone, and somebody is feeding deer – well, the list could go on and on, because there are people feeding deer all over the island. Perhaps this isn’t a favour to the deer after all.

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