URGENT! Stop the Sidney Island Deer Cull

Deer on a small island off of Canada’s west coast remain in danger of complete eradication by Parks Canada. Action to save the deer is urgently needed.

Parks Canada’s plan is to bring in ‘specialist’ marksmen, at great cost, to kill every last deer on Sidney Island, including native and non-native species.

Their eradication plan involves use of dogs to drive the deer into zones where the deer would be trapped by netting. The dogs would hold the deer while specialist marksmen rush to kill the deer. In preparation for this, Parks Canada erected 35 kilometres of netting ...

Deer on a small island off of Canada’s west coast remain in danger of complete eradication by Parks Canada. Action to save the deer is urgently needed.

Parks Canada’s plan is to bring in ‘specialist’ marksmen, at great cost, to kill every last deer on Sidney Island, including native and non-native species.

Their eradication plan involves use of dogs to drive the deer into zones where the deer would be trapped by netting. The dogs would hold the deer while specialist marksmen rush to kill the deer. In preparation for this, Parks Canada erected 35 kilometres of netting around the island. As of November 13, 2024, island residents have found six deer entangled in the netting. Two deer died as a result of their entanglement, and four were thankfully released by islanders who found them.

Some of the netting has since been taken down, but remains on the ground, still posing a threat of entanglement to the deer. For the safety of the deer, all of the netting must be removed immediately and not allowed to remain on the ground.

Further, the eradication program must be fully cancelled, and all available non-lethal measures be employed instead to reduce the numbers of fawns born.

Parks Canada already completed Phase 1 of their proposed eradication plan in early December 2023, which entailed marksmen in a helicopter shooting deer from the air as well as ground-based hunting. Parks Canada reportedly killed 84 deer during that phase, both Fallow and Black-tailed Deer at a cost of $834,000 to the taxpayer. Phase 2, which was scheduled to take place in November of 2024, included use of the netting to confine deer into zones, dogs to drive the deer, and specialist marksmen to kill the deer at a proposed cost of $5.9 million dollars.

Thankfully, in November, 2024, after video was reported that showed an entangled deer in distress, Parks Canada announced that they were ‘pausing’ the eradication program while they continue to consult. ‘Pausing’ the program is not sufficient. Instead, the eradication program needs to be fully called off, and non-lethal means, such as contraceptive programs that have proven successful in other jurisdictions need to be fully employed. Further, all netting needs to be removed, and not left on the ground, to prevent further entanglements to endanger deer.

There are also serious concerns mentioned by Parks Canada staff, obtained through Freedom of Information requests, of a “conflict-of-interest” in how the contract has been awarded to carry out the lethal program, and the spurious justification for eradication.

It’s essential that Parks Canada is directed to change tactics.

We call on the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, to direct Parks Canada to fully call off the eradication program, to employ non-lethal measures on Sidney Island, and to have all netting removed.

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Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault: STOP the Sidney Island Deer Cull

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Dear Minister Steven Guilbeault,

I am writing to urge you to direct Parks Canada management to fully call off plans to eradicate the deer of Sidney Island, and to employ non-lethal measures to reduce the deer populations instead of using lethal means.

Further, I urge you to further direct Parks Canada to remove all of the netting erected on the island. As of November, 2024, six deer have been found entangled in the netting, resulting in the death of two, and causing unnecessary distress to the others.

I urge you as well to modernize Parks Canada's mandate and policies to better protect national parks across Canada in this climate heating era, by abandoning its out-of-date policy of using lethal means as their main approach. Parks Canada could become a global leader in best practices if they are directed by you to update their methods to reflect a more modern sensibility about the value of all forms of life within Canada’s parklands.

Regardless of a lack of evidence and data to support eradication, and no current scientific count, Parks Canada has pushed forward an agenda to eradicate Fallow Deer, as well as native Black tailed Deer, from Sidney Island. This includes spending $5.9 million dollars to hire a contractor firm, Coastal Conservation.  Phase 1 has sadly already taken place and Parks Canada reported that 84 deer were killed through marksmen in a helicopter, and ground-based hunting at a cost of $834,000 to the taxpayer. And this is only Phase 1 of a proposed 3 phases. This is very similar to the $6 million spent in 2018 to eradicate deer from Haida Gwaii with aerial sharpshooters from New Zealand.

Animal Alliance of Canada investigated the procurement process used by Parks Canada for the eradication bidding, based on concerning information found in an Access to Information Request (ATIP). What was found was that Parks Canada’s own staff had voiced concerns internally that there was a conflict of interest. The contractor who could potentially gain financially from the approval of the deer eradication option was also the Chair of the steering committee for the Sidney Island Ecological Restoration Project (SIERP) that was developing the options for how to manage the deer.

Please STOP this eradication program entirely, as opposed to only pausing it. Please direct Parks Canada to reconsider their approach to coexistence with wildlife, including use of immuno-contraception for example. Parks Canada's approach, historically and presently, is to go into Canada’s parklands and kill. Please stop this.

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