There has been a cougar sighting in Oak Bay, and residents should use caution when out walking, particularly with pets and small children.

Cougars wander into the CRD every year from west of Goldstream – they have no idea whether there are deer in Oak Bay, Saanich or Victoria until they arrive. They find raccoons, rabbits and livestock an easier prey than wild deer, along with domestic animals – so it’s important to keep your pets close.

Although there are many deer in Oak Bay, according to conservation officers COUGARS wander into urban areas “unwittingly” and the correlation between deer and cougars that one would find in the wild does not necessarily translate into an urban area. Cougars have been sighted in the CRD over many years, and removing deer will not prevent the occasional cougar from coming into Oak Bay.

A recent editorial in the Times Colonist, Province should lead on deer issue, calls on science and research for deer management.

The Urban Wildlife Stewardship Society is happy that the province is going to be providing some leadership and funding for the management of urban deer. We are particularly pleased to see that some funding will go towards research projects.

The UWSS has been calling for science based solutions, in particular immuno-contraception as a long term and sustainable solution, along with the collection of scientific information to help inform urban deer ecology – multiple and proper deer counts that provide information on numbers and deer movement patterns being particularly important.

The province has also called for socially acceptable solutions and immuno-contraception provides a good fit.

While the province is ultimately responsible for deer, there needs to be regional coordination and long term planning, and municipalities must still undertake responsibility for public education in their communities on ways to co-exist with deer, and human-deer conflict reduction strategies such as speed enforcement, enforcement of no-feeding bylaws, appropriate signage and accessing the expertise of wildlife biologists.

The UWSS looks forward to being part of the solution!

The UWSS was saddened to learn today that a small dog was killed by a deer in someone’s back yard, near the Oak Bay border. We are waiting to learn the details and hope that such a sad ending won’t happen again. Many of us on the board of the UWSS have dogs and understand how difficult this must be.

Our objective continues to be to reduce deer numbers and to educate the public so that conflict with deer won’t happen.  We cannot – nor do we want – to eliminate all deer from greater Victoria so we must continue to learn to live with them.

If you have deer in your neighbourhood or you live close to deer habitat (parks, golf courses etc.), please check your back yards before letting your dog out, and keep your dog on a leash when out walking.

If you come across deer when walking your dog, cross the street or alter your route, particularly as we get closer to the deer rutting season in October.