Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has defended the price tag of $10,000 per kill in Parks Canada’s eradication of fallow deer on BC’s Sydney Island, saying Canadian hunters aren’t skilled enough to do the job safely or effectively.
Documents from an order paper question reveal Guilbeault stating that Parks Canada has spent just under $800,000 in 2023 in its eradication project, where non-native fallow deer from Europe have trampled the local ecosystem on the island that’s home to just 50 residents.
To date, the eradication team contracted out by Parks Canada to Coastal Conservation has killed 84 deer, meaning that the 2023 cost per deer has been roughly $10,000 per.
Moreover, while $800,000 was spent in 2023, Parks Canada gave a $5.4 million contract to Coastal Conservation to complete the project between 2022 – 2025.
The Climate Change Minister stated that there are somewhere between 300 – 900 deer remaining on the island.
Cost per deer scrutinized
The cost per killed deer became known in December of last year. Critics questioned why the government wouldn’t just contract out Canadian hunters for the job, some of whom expressed shock at how much the feds were spending.
Guilbeault’s response on Tuesday stated that Parks Canada didn’t bother to do a financial benefit analysis involving Canadian hunters for the operation, because “the operation is an eradication and not a cull.”
“Marksmen with a) extensive experience in deer eradications and b) a well-established safety record or marksmanship in semi-urban environments are necessary for the operation to be completed safely and effectively,” he stated.
Guilbeault added: “Recreational hunters have been hunting fallow deer on private lands on Sidney Island since 1981, including paid and professional culls. Despite removing almost 15,000 deer, the population continually rebounds.”
He further said that the eradication project will resume in the fall of 2024 and spring of 2025 when he expects the job to be successfully completed.
The fallow deer have flourished on Sidney Island since being introduced in the early 1900s by European pioneers. Sidney Island is about 9 square km in size.
The Coastal Conservation eradication team is taking out the deer through aerial shooting using CZ Bren 2 .223 calibre firearms.
“The firearm used is restricted (not prohibited) in Canada and was legal for this purpose under the Firearms Business License issued by the RCMP to the contractor,” Guilbeault’s response reads.
Last year, Parks Canada blamed the wind when a women-in-fire training exchange program accidentally set Banff National Park ablaze after a prescribed burn went out of control.
