Deer take over Alberta town, forcing residents to stay indoors

Oh deer, Okotokshas a problem.

Since 2015, the Alberta town has noticed a higher deer presence, and residents aren't so happy sharing the urban landscape with the woodsy critters.

This year, it's worse, according to Christa Michailuck,the parks manager for the municipality about 20 kilometres south of Calgary.

"They've got deer in their yard that don't seem to want to leave," she said. "Some residents are concerned about their safety in the presence of deer and maybe they have a right to be. There have been a couple aggressive deer encounters."

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While no humans have been harmed bydeer so far, Michailuck says there was a report that a dog was hurt. She says most of the aggressive deer encounters she's heard of happened while residents were walking dogs.

She says shehad more calls in October than in previous months. In one week, she had five or six concerned citizens ring her hotline, which she says used to be the volume of calls for an entire season.

The deer are coming up on rutting season, which means the bucks and does are bounding about in Okotoks trying to find a mate. And Michailuck says this can cause some problems.

Deer pushed around town

"They tend to be a little bit different in their behaviours. The bucks are pushing deer around town, so there's more movement. " Michailuck said. "Typically vehicle incidents with deer are higher so citizens need to be on the lookout this time of year."

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So what's bringing the animals into town? Michailuck says it's a combination of abundant and delicious crabapple trees and well connected natural areas.

"We have a lot of attractive habitat for deer in our community," she said. "There's a lot of tasty yards and gardens, there's a lot of fruit trees. You know, we're making the town pretty comfortable for them."

Spray them with the hose

Working with Alberta's Fish and Wildlife officers, the town home to nearly 30,000 people is looking for ways to make Okotoks less comfy for the large pests. Michailuck says it has to be a community initiative.

"Maybe it's fencing off your garden vegetables, or picking crabapples in the fall when they're loose and easy to get off the trees, not leaving pumpkins out," she said. "There are motion sensor sprinklers. Spray them with the hose, get them out the yard."

She says no one likes being sprayed with water, so if citizens turn the hose on deer, the hoofed ruminantswill get the idea and move on.

Deer count not going well

Okotoks is still establishing a baseline for how many deer it has, and if that population is increasing. In 2015, the town did its first deer count, and this year an app was launched to help citizens track the animals.

Michailuck says the town didn't have resources in 2016 or 2017 to count does and bucks and public enumerating interest waned this season.

The town is looking for ways to ramp up public interest in counting deer but may use resources to continue the census. And meanwhile, Michailuck says, Okotoks will continue public information campaigns for citizens to help them learn to shoo away the animals safely.

"Maybe it's less sexy for people now," she said. "I'd say the issue hasn't gone away. If anything, they're more problematic now, but yet fewer people seem interested in engaging on the issue.

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With files from theCalgary Eyeopener.