Dear Editor:
I attended the January 24th Invermere town meeting because of the deer cull. So did many other people. Its not easy for everybody to public speak and for some people, including me, it can be very stressful.
Nevertheless, people spoke. They did so regardless of their fears because they feel so very strongly about this issue. There were a couple of stories about herds of deer attacking dogs in yards, and people concerned about the safety of their children.
Safety being the foremost reason for the cull was questioned, and not the destruction of vegetation. Never was the validity of these stories questioned, but Im sure they were, silently. We all know that people will exaggerate a story to give it more impact, and even more so when emotions are high.
As the discussions progressed, safety came to the forefront more and more. It was like a building of momentum. Clearly, this was alarmism! Now suddenly we reached a point where we have run out of time! Something had to be done right away. There was no longer any time left for any other solutions!
Relocation was off the table because of the province not responding. Sterilization was never discussed. I wish I would have thought about it then. I did ask if the cull was a permanent solution, to which I got the reply that they didnt know.
Well, obviously it isnt. The deer will reproduce. Later I did some research about sterilization as a means of controlling deer populations and found that a lot of programs were met with a good measure of success. I also did some research on bolt guns. I wish I hadnt.
So, because of a handful of alarmists in Invermere not being realistic about the danger of deer, many animals will have this cruel act done to them. They wont be the first to die though. Thats already happened to common sense in Invermere.
Kathy Wilson
Invermere
