Deer cross ice, invade Quebec town

Boucherville on Montreal's South Shore is struggling to deal with a large influx of deer from a nearby island provincial park.

The deer live in the Boucherville Islands Provincial Park on the St. Lawrence River but have been travelling across the ice in recent years to graze in peoples' yards, prompting many residents to complain to city officials.

Traffic accidents involving the animals have increased by 60 per cent in the last four years, according to provincial statistics.

The situation is out of hand and it's time to consider population control, said Jean-Franois Giroux, a biologist at l'Universit du Qubec Montral (UQM).

"You have to control either to capture them and displace them to areas where there is food availability in the forest or even you can cull the animals, which has been done in southern Ontario," he said in an interview with CBC News.

"I think it can be done safely when the park is closed with a few people that are specialist hunters or sharpshooters and you can reduce the numbers."

Culling not an option, park agency says

Deer are not native to the Boucherville islands, but a few migrated from the South Shore in the 1980s and the population has grown steadily.

There are about 200 deer living on the islands now compared to about 40 animals in 2001, according to Quebec's provincial park agency SPAC.

Culling is not a viable option because hunting in provincial parks is illegal, SPAC said. But the agency is studying the problem and may resort to building a fence.

It's not clear who is responsible for the deer population in Boucherville itself.SPAC says the town is outside its jurisdiction and falls under the Ministry of Natural Resources' watch, and the ministry says it is the park agency's problem.

Don't feed the deer

Despite complaints from some residentsothers areenjoying the deer's presence which may eventuallyexacerbate the problem.

"I'm always happy to see wildlife,' said Longueuil resident Francois Laverdure, who went to the Boucherville islands on Tuesday to feed the deer and take pictures.

"I think wildlife has its place in the city.If you take a city and you take out everything that is living in there, how livable can it be for humans, ya know?"

Something has to be done soon before the deer get accustomed to urban grazing and the population grows even more, Giroux said.

"Often they will lose their shyness towards humans, and then people will feed them, and then more animals will come, and then they will become habituated to be [fed], and then they will come again and again," he said.

That pattern will eventually lead to overbrowsing, which can increase the animals' susceptibility to disease, Giroux said.