Duane Hicks
Council will receive a request from a local resident to ban the feeding of deer within town limits at its regular meeting tonight.
In correspondence with the town, John Nelson said that in the past four years, his Colonization Road West neighbourhood has seen at least four vehicle/deer collisions that have been fatal to the deer and damaging to vehicles, with the most recent incident happening back on Nov. 17.
Anecdotal reports from neighbours suggest more than four accidents, but most of these resulted in injured deer limping away, he noted.
“It is, therefore, a public safety issue to make it illegal to attract these animals into town limits,” Nelson wrote. “They get habituated to living in town limits and lose their fear of being close to people.
“Four lethal accidents in a half-mile stretch of residential road is clearly indicative of a serious problem.”
Nelson also said close contact of deer in an “artificial feeding situation” is “the most significant factor in the spread of chronic wasting disease,” adding the presence of this disease would be “financially devastating to all businesses that cater to deer hunters.”
“The town should set a good example in wildlife stewardship by outlawing a potentially disease-spreading practice,” Nelson urged.
He also pointed out many town residents put a lot of time and money into their gardens, to which deer are “massively destructive.”
“It is not possible to prevent wild deer from entering town,” he acknowledged. “However, encouraging them to enter and stay by feeding them in town limits is simply un-neighbourly.”
Nelson is strongly encouraging town council to pass a bylaw to outlaw deer feeding, adding Dryden and Kenora already have such bylaws in place.
Tonight’s council meeting is scheduled to start at 6:10 p.m. The committee of the whole will meet first at 5:30.
Business on the committee of the whole agenda includes:
•a report regarding the sale of town property on Crowe Avenue;
•a recommendation regarding the Alzheimer Society’s “Chefs’ Charitable Dinner” and auction;
•minutes of settlement requests for reconsideration for property at 814 and 816 Front St.;
•a report regarding the naming of soccer pitches at the St. Francis Sportsfield;
•a report regarding the location of the Hallett; and
•an update of construction activities from Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown.
Other business on tonight’s council agenda includes:
•a bylaw to approve a license agreement with Environment Systems Research Institute Inc. for access to web services;
•a bylaw to authorize the entering into of a lease agreement with Dryden Municipal Telephone System for space on the municipal water tower;
•a bylaw to authorize the sale of surplus property at Crowe Avenue to property owners at 912 and 914 Crowe Ave.; and
•a request from the Northwestern Health Unit for support of its request for continued provincial funding for the FOCUS Community program (which, in turn, funds the Rainy River District Substance Abuse Prevention Team).
