Culling overpopulated deer in Montreal’s East End parks best option, committee says

The best scenario to control the growing deer population in Montreal’s East End parks is to deploy professional hunters, a committee of experts is recommending.

The committee says the City of Montreal should act as early as this fall to cull the fast-growing population in the Pointe-aux-Prairies and Bois-d’Anjou parks.

The city says there are 165 deer in those parks – a 253 per cent increase from 2021. The parks should only have 25 deer, the city says.

Montreal says deer overpopulation poses environmental (deforestation), safety (car accidents) and health risks (ticks, Lyme disease).

There have been “successful” deer culls, the city says, in the Mont-Saint-Bruno and Îles-de-Boucherville national parks.

The recommendation to kill the deer was chosen because of the risks involved with relocation, according to the committee.

“This type of intervention is complex and poses high risks of injury or complications that can lead to the death of deer,” the city said in a news release.

Municipal officials in Longueuil have been trying to carry out a deer cull since 2020 but have faced strong backlash, including threats against the mayor.

Animal rights organizations and activists fought the cull plan in court. The challenge ended in October 2023 when Quebec’s Court of Appeal upheld a decision authorizing a crossbow hunt. The court found the cull falls within the city’s legal rights when it comes to environment, nuisances and health and safety.

The Longueuil cull is expected to go ahead this fall.

Montreal is vowing to implement measures to reduce fertility going forward as it “wishes to limit as much as possible the need for lethal interventions.” A $2-million project – of which $98,000 will come from the City of Montreal – will explore deer movements across the metropolitan region and evaluate fertility control measures.

The official opposition at City hall said in a statement that they will take time to analyze the recommendations, but called out the Plante administration for taking too long on this file.

“However, we deplore the fact that the Plante administration has waited all this time before making a decision, even though it has had the expert panel’s recommendations on the status of white-tailed deer in east-end Montreal since 2021. In the meantime, the deer have multiplied and the situation has deteriorated,” said Aref Salem, leader of Ensemble Montréal in a press release.

The committee of experts that made recommendations to the city was made up of biologists and veterinarians from the City of Montreal, Quebec’s Environment Ministry, and professors from the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, Université du Québec en Outaouais and Université du Québec à Chicoutimi.