I am writing to express my extreme disappointment and frustration with council’s lack of action regarding the evolving deer problem in Oak Bay. Last night, a massive buck jumped our eight-by-10-foot hedge for the third time, continuing on a destructive rampage through our garden. To date, we have spent several thousand dollars turning our yard into a fortress in an attempt to keep the deer out, but this huge predator will not be stopped.
As I recall everyone on council campaigned on the need to find a solution to the deer problem and yet to date, that has only involved allowing an organization committed to maintaining an urban deer population to carry out biased research with questionable results. However, we have now gone beyond the issue of reducing the number of deer, this is about the need to remove huge, unpredictable, potentially violent and definitely destructive wild animals from our neighborhoods.
It is unacceptable that you would let these large bucks roam freely until someone is injured or killed while you and the province play some juvenile game of ‘it’s not my responsibility.’ It is also unacceptable that having spent significant amounts of time and money on creating a beautiful garden, we now cannot stop an animal that is being protected by both our local and provincial governments from destroying our private property. Surely you must see how ludicrous that is.
I expect action. I expect council to live up to their campaign promises. I expect my rights as a property owner and taxpayer to take precedence over the rights of a large, wild animal that has no place in an urban environment. And given how secure we have tried to make our property, I expect to be able to walk in my own yard at any time of the day or night and feel safe. I believe that these expectations are reasonable and well within council’s mandate to serve the community that elected them.
Elizabeth Causton
Oak Bay
