After a meeting with Ministry of Environment officials on Monday, the City of Cranbrook will soon be taking steps to address the urban deer issue.

“It was a good exchange of ideas and it was a good opportunity to have a good discussion on their report that they issued, which is relevant to the situation in Cranbrook,” said Scott Manjak, mayor of Cranbrook. “On our August 16 meeting we will bring this item forward and we’ll take some very concrete steps.”

Manjak said Council would authorize the distribution of an opinion survey at its regular meeting in August to solicit thoughts and views on the issue. Other actions include starting the process for creating a bylaw prohibiting the feeding of deer and striking a community committee so plans can be made to address the problem.

“I would say the consensus among Council is that we do not want this to be a one to three year process,” Manjak said. “If Council authorizes the survey it will be out shortly after August 16.”

There have been many reports of does attacking dogs as they aggressively defend their fawns, in addition to a video taken of a deer repeatedly striking a dog with its hooves that went viral on You Tube. One local man said he was attacked by a deer and had to get stitches for the resulting wound.

“We feel that the public safety issue has reached the tipping point. We’re at that time of year where the does are protecting their fawns, we all understand that, but the fact is we have deer in this community that have been here for four or five years who have become habituated to Cranbrook and that is the problem we have,” Manjak said. “We know the predators are going to come into town and so it is a public safety issue — we have to find a way that’s going to address that concern. If people are going to be scared to even go out of their homes because we have marauding deer all over the place then we’re going to do something about it.”

The survey is part of a recommended process outlined in a Ministry of Environment report called “British Columbia Urban Ungulate Conflict Analysis — Summary Report for Municipalities.” The link to the report is available at the City of Cranbrook website (www.cranbrook.ca).

Manjak said although he has publicly stated a cull is called for to deal with the urban deer issue, Council is not presupposing the outcome of the surveys.

“I don’t think we should be under any illusions; there is going to be a wide range of diverse opinions on it,” he said. “The fact is, someone is going to get hurt — it’s only a matter of time. Could you imagine if it’s a child walking to Amy Woodland in the fall when the bucks are in rut? Are we really going to be having this conversation then, what the appropriate response is? No, we wouldn’t be.

“I think we all need to understand a cull doesn’t mean we go out and kill every deer in the community. What it means is you take a targeted strategy to reduce the population over time.”

A cull is listed under population reduction options in the government report. Also discussed are conflict reduction options, fertility control options and administrative options.

He advised people to continue to be cautious when walking in the community.

“Give the deer a wide berth when you’re out walking. That’s the best advice we can give, be very cautious and treat them with a lot of respect,” Manjak said. “You can carry a walking stick, you can carry a repellent spray.”