File photo.
A new interim report shows that, as of last summer, there are anywhere from 72 to 128 adult black-tailed deer in Oak Bay.
The information from the study must be submitted to the province before any funds are committed to a project to reduce the deer population with the use of immunocontraceptive vaccination.
It’s a project geared at managing the deer population in Oak Bay, and the district already has a permit to inoculate as many as 80 deer as early as this summer.
In April 2018, the Victoria-based Urban Wildlife Stewardship Society (UWSS) announced it had captured, radio-collared and released 20 does within Oak Bay, which will help provide information on the ecology of urban deer through movement patterns, density and population size.
The volunteer group said if successful, the project would serve as a template for urban deer management.
Oak Bay carried out a deer cull in 2015 but met with opposition and there was a lack of evidence supporting another one as a long-term management strategy.
CHEK News
