Residents are being asked to step up and help the City of Cranbrook ensure the deliberate feeding of deer inside the municipality does not happen.
“Deliberate feeding of the deer is just one piece of the puzzle around urban deer and part of the reason we have the deer issues we do,” says Chris Zettel, Corporate Communications Officer for the City of Cranbrook.
“This is the easiest thing we, as a community can do to try to minimize these problems – by simply not feeding them.”
The bylaw states no one is to provide deer with food by intentionally leaving food, food waste or other attractive edible material for the sole purpose of feeding deer. For example, leaving out a bale of hay, a bag of apples or other compostable food scraps on any property where these items are not consistently being grown or produced for human consumption would be a violation of the Bylaw.
Home fruit and vegetable gardens intended for human consumption or ornamental plants and flowers will not be included as material intended for the sole purpose of feeding deer under the deer feeding bylaw.
“Like so many of our bylaws, enforcement is done on a complaint driven basis,” says Zettel. “We don’t have the ability to patrol the City looking for infractions around the deer feeding bylaw. We need residents to let us know if deliberate feeding of deer is happening and where.
"You will have to provide our staff your name and phone number, so our bylaw officers can contact you should more information be needed.”
Anyone found violating the Deer Feeding Prohibition Bylaw will be committing an offense and can be fined on an escalating fine schedule; $ 100 for the first offense, $200 for the second, $500 for the third. Each day a violation occurs constitutes a new and separate offence.
For more information or to report a location where deliberate deer feeding is happening, please call Bylaw Services @ 250-489-9598. The City cannot act on anonymous complaints as evidence is required if the offender is to be fined.