Saint John asks residents if urban deer hunt would be OK

The City of Saint John is checking with citizens before it goes ahead with efforts to control the urban deer population.

The Millidgeville and Milford areas, in particular, have been hotspots for deer in the last couple of years.

"We've heard from our citizens through our councillors that there is potentially some frustration out there," said city park naturalist Emilie Murphy.

"We just want to know from everyone … what the general consensus is — whether or not people consider this to be a problem," she said.

To that end, the city is now surveying residents to find out if they've had any collisions or close calls on the roads and how concerned they are about Lyme disease. 

They're also asking whether Saint Johners would be open to a nuisance deer management program.

"It's not necessarily a cull," Murphy said.

"What they'd be doing is they'd be relaxing some of the rules so people, if they want to, can apply to have a bow hunter come onto their property and shoot an additional antlerless deer.

"But definitely, they wouldn't be luring animals away from neighbourhoods and culling them."

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Before a management program could be implemented, the city would have to pass a bylaw, banning deer feeding, Murphy said.

The city has put up signs to warn drivers in areas where deer collisions are common.

It has also published a map of deer hot zones.

The survey is expected to be available until Nov. 9.

Murphy said the city will move ahead with the plans if a majority of respondents agree.