Regardless of whether there are Sundre residents who feed deer, the animals undoubtedly will find their way into town. However, that being said, throwing fuel on a blaze has never been known to put the fire out — quite the opposite.
Regardless of whether there are Sundre residents who feed deer, the animals undoubtedly will find their way into town.
However, that being said, throwing fuel on a blaze has never been known to put the fire out — quite the opposite. This approach generally is more prone to exacerbate the situation.
Numerous residents have recently expressed concerns regarding what appears to be a growing number of increasingly fearless deer in the community, which has in turn led to negative interactions and even confrontations. Click here for that story.
"Stop feeding deer people! Had two in my yard this morning that trampled my dog because she got too close," wrote Khalid Kamaleddine in a post that received dozens of reactions and spurred more than 50 comments from others.
"Luckily it was a pretty little deer and Harley wasn't injured. STOP FEEDING THE DEER! I have to check my surroundings before going to start my jeep in the mornings cuz they have charged at me before too."
Responding to a comment regarding how deer inevitably will stray into town either way, he added, "I have lived in Sundre my whole life and it was never this bad until people started to feed them for their viewing pleasure."
Among the concerns commonly shared in the comment thread was the potential for someone to get hurt — especially children who walk to school — and thus whether the municipality should consider creating a bylaw to prohibit people from feeding wildlife.
However, that's not necessarily community peace officer Kevin Heerema's preferred course of action.
"I'd rather educate folks and get voluntary compliance than enforce a law," he told the Round Up.
The only benefit to feeding deer is the personal satisfaction of seeing the animals in one's yard. But that is far outweighed by the potential for negative ramifications, he said.
"There's the safety aspect with people feeding deer."
As more deer come into town, there is an increased risk of traffic collisions as well as dangerous interactions or confrontations with people. Additionally, wherever there's prey, predators are naturally not far behind. So more deer also increase the possibility of more cougars, bears and even wolves venturing into Sundre, which of course also creates potential confrontations that could result in injury or death, he said.
"That's my biggest fear, is that people won't take it seriously enough until it's too late."
So long as there are residents who keep feeding deer, the animals will only continue to become further emboldened, which will quite possibly lead to a regrettable confrontation.
Wild animals are not our pets and certainly should not be treated as such. If a person desires the comfort and companionship of a domesticated animal, that individual might consider getting a cat or dog.
