White-tailed Deer population declines dramatically in eastern Ontario – Winter 2011
 
Beginning in 2003, the ministry of natural resources initiated a campaign to increase sport hunting opportunities across Ontario.
The campaign was fuelled by the Lanark Landowners Association, (just south east of Ottawa), who complained of too much government interference of their ‘property rights’ in dealing with ‘nuisance deer’.
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act permits landowners to kill wildlife in defence of property. However the Lanark Landowners Association is philosophically opposed to government regulation of any kind, and objected to the prerequisite of showing damage by wildlife before receiving a permit to kill them.
They didn’t want government permission to kill wildlife they perceived as problematic.
The ministry of natural resources seized the opportunity to increase sport hunting activities and ran a public campaign stating that the deer population in Ontario was ‘over-abundant’.
The ministry allowed a take of seven deer per hunter in targeted areas– far more than any hunter or their family could eat in one year. The ministry then relaxed requirements for deer meat donations to food banks.
At the same time, the ministry relaxed depredation order requirements making it easier for landowners to kill deer. Landowners no longer needed to show browse damage. They only needed to show that deer were in the vicinity by recording deer tracks or bedding areas.
Most importantly, the ministry insisted that if landowners apply for a depredation order, they must permit sport hunters onto their property during the regulated deer hunt.
For other private property owners, the ministry allowed them to charge an ‘access fee’ to encourage sport hunters onto their property during the regulated deer hunt.
In the Ottawa area, the ministry ran a public campaign stating that car collisions with deer had dramatically increased and that the deer population was ‘over-abundant’. The City of Ottawa responded by relaxing the firearms discharge by-law and reducing the distance between hunting zones and municipal buildings such as schools and hospitals.
By 2006, a dramatic decline in the deer population was recorded by the ministry but not made public.
By 2010, the disappearance of White-Tailed Deer was widely noted in eastern Ontario.
The ministry now has to explain the cause of the population decline. Publicly, the ministry continues to blame coyotes and harsh winters for the decline but ministry raw data retrieved by the Peaceful Parks shows a direct correlation between hunting regulations and the dramatic decline in the deer population.
Upon further questioning, the ministry confirms that the decline was intentional and confirms that the deer population had not reached ecological carrying capacity – yet the ministry ran a public campaign stating deer were ‘over-abundant’.
To review original ministry data, please contact the Peaceful Parks Coalition at ppc@peacefulparks.org |
