Kootenay community fed up with deer after woman mauled neighbour, backyard, calling, growing

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Kootenay community fed up with deer after woman mauled

The mauling of a Kimberley woman by an aggressive pair of deer has the southeast Kootenay community fed up and calling for help from the province to deal with a growing region-wide deer problem.

The attack, which sent the woman to hospital, happened in a residential area just steps away from the woman's front door while she walked her two small dogs.

Rick Humble, a neighbour, was working in his backyard with his wife Lynn McKim at noon on Monday when they heard screams coming from the street.

When they found the woman, "she was on her hands and knees trying to protect her pugs," Humble said.

They saw two mule deer stomping on the defenceless woman's back.

"I charged the deer," Humble said.

McKim grabbed a stick and started beating the more aggressive of the two does, while the other retreated.

The RCMP and an ambulance soon arrived, Humble said. One of the RCMP officers shot the more persistent deer — probably a first-time mother — so the paramedics could get to the woman to help her.

Three conservation officers soon arrived at the scene. One of them, Joe Caravetta, said this was the first time he'd seen a deer attack in his career.

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The mauling of a Kimberley woman by an aggressive pair of deer has the southeast Kootenay community fed up and calling for help from the province to deal with a growing region-wide deer problem

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What they need, he said, is money from the province for traps, a truck and other equipment required by the local committee to arrange a deer cull in the fall.

During the deer count, 180 does were tallied in and around Kimberley. That number is expected to double during the fall fawning season, Humble — an avid outdoorsmen — said.

Caravetta said the local conservation officers will be advising the urban deer committee, but won't be driving around Kimberley shooting deer.

The role of the province is to advise the municipalities on their wildlife problems, said Mike Badry, the wildlife conflicts prevention coordinator for the Ministry of Environment.

He said the rising deer population is an emerging continentwide issue that the ministry is aware of, but it's up to municipalities to finance, plan and execute deer relocations and culls.

The provincial government will not provide funding for such activities, Badry said, adding that conservation officers are willing and able to advise individual municipalities and would continue to deal with wildlife safety issues on a case-by-case basis.

Caravetta said he visited the woman in hospital on Monday. He said she suffered from severe bruising and required stitches, but would be all right.

"She was shaken up," he said.

The middle-aged woman was released from hospital on Monday evening

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"We always associate deer with Bambi," Caravetta said, adding that deer attacks are known to happen during this time of year, when does are fawning and are sensitive to the safety of their offspring.

The conservation officers shot the second doe, as well as a fawn.

Caravetta said the fawn — likely the cause of the does' aggression — wouldn't make it on its own and would attract bears and cougars into the area if it were left to die.

The attack is the latest and darkest event in a growing struggle with deer.

Kimberley mayor Jim Ogilvie said his town is among a group of Kootenay communities including Invermere, Cranbrook, Grand Forks, Sparwood and Elkford that are struggling to contain bursting deer populations.

"They eat everybody's garden ... they're everywhere, and now they're attacking people," Ogilvie said.

"If that was a young child [attacked] ... that kid would be gone now," he said.

Ogilvie said there needs to be full cooperation between the municipality and the provincial government to "get on with the job" of relocating or culling the unruly deer population.

He said the Ministry of Environment and its conservation officers are always quick to deal with bear problems, but he can't understand why the ministry has been dragging its feet dealing with the deer.

"We did everything the ministry wanted us to do," Ogilvie said, explaining that they set up an urban deer committee, conducted a deer count and put together a community plan which included bans on feeding the deer.