Urban Deer Task Force

Well, it's winter and once again Helena is wanting to kill 150 urban deer.
I was reading through FWP's Deer Environmental Assessment. Here are highlights.

In 2007 there was an estimated 82 deer per square mile. However this exceeds the city's ideal of 25. This is equivilant to 350 deer total in the city limits. The city can hold more deer, but the "social tolerance" for urban deer has "been exceeded." Meaning too many flowers are being eaten, too many car collisions, and too many pet-deer conflicts.

So, as is the case with the ignorance in this state, the solution to every wildlife issue is kill it.

Helena Police will be setting clover traps (see video below) on private property, bait them at night, come back the next morning and kill the deer with a bolt gun. "After the carcass is removed the site would be cleaned with water or other means to maintain aesthetic values of the site." FWP will store the carcass after field dressing and when there are 5 the carcasses will be taken to meat processing and given to food banks. Once again the slaughtered animals are given to the poor.

You can help by sending an email to Fish Wildlife Park and tell them what you think of their EA.
urbandeer@mt.gov

New Deer Killing Tactics

For information on the city commission meeting last night, there is an article by the HelenaIR. I'll sum up what it says. KILL the DEER! That's it.

O.K. I'll give more info.

The city commissioners, FWP (Forget Wildlife Protection), and the police dept. will continue killing deer, but are also looking at non-lethal ways including: birth control vaccines, hazing through teaching residents how to shoot deer w/paintball guns (Helena is on it's way to becoming Yellowstone. RUN!) hunting, & public education on living peacefully w/deer (yeh right :P)

This summer the city will create a new urban wildlife task force (UWTF) (I don't know what was wrong with the last 1) while collaborating with FWP to "develop a long-term programmatic environmental assessment." In short-how many deer live in the city and how many will the city be allowed to kill each year. The city is also wanting grant funding from FWP.

The city is even recruiting people to join the UWTF. GREAT! Now, get the public involved in hazing. A city Task Force is probably cheaper to run than hiring the DOL.

If you'd like to contact Montana's FWP & remind them the deer are in the city b/c the city is chopping down and building inside the forests and if you'd like to tell them how inhumane and flat out stupid they are here's the link.

Urban Deer Control Tactics

Well tonight there will be a city commission discussion on the next round of trapping and killing of deer in Helena. Since September the Urban Wildlife Task Force killed 200 bucks and does. Details of this can be found in a previous post.

There will also be discussion of creating an Urban Wildlife Task Force advisory council to make decisions on how many deer to kill each year. Currently it costs $2000 to kill a deer!!

There is a deer friendly blog that goes into more detail about this issue.
Also you can check out New West News for more info.

The city has around 40,000 people and it acts like a big city that doesn't have ANY room left!

I won't be attending the meeting because no matter what anyone says, if it isn't what the city wants you'll be ignored.

In addition to MT killing off ALL wildlife, they are currently battling a pine beetle infestation that began in 2004. Currently over 1.1million acres of trees in Northern Idaho and MT have been destroyed.

What I think of all this. The forests are being destroyed because nature is experiencing tooo much stress from all the wildlife being killed. I wouldn't be surprised if all the trees died and Montana became a wasteland.

Deer Removal in Helena,MT

In 2007 Helena decided to trap and kill deer within city limits. Why? The deer have moved into the city. The forests are being logged and new houses built up in the highest areas possible. People are moving into the deers' home, so the deer are moving into theirs.



To deal with this influx of deer, Helena created the "Urban Wildlife Task Force" (hahaha..the name is ludicrous.) They are under the authority of Fish Wildlife & Parks. This is the 2nd year the "Task Force" has been operating. This year FWP created the Draft Environmental Assessment City of Helena Deer Reduction Program Pilot Project Phase II December 2008. Here's a snippet "Findings of the Task Force confirmed that the predominate urban wildlife problem was an overpopulation of mule deer due to the ample forage, water and general habitat condition." Wow! Look at that. The environment is suitable for deer. How many thousands $ did it take FWP to figure this one out.

Last year 50 deer were "removed". This year FWP is looking at 150.

How the deer are "removed" is by the Task Force setting traps in parks and on private land w/owners consent. The trap is hanging food. When the deer pulls on it a box trap springs up enclosing the deer, then pushes the deer down to hold them in place. Next morning the Task Force revisits the traps and puts a bullet in the deer's head. But, don't worry the meat is not wasted. It is given to Food banks and public schools for lunch. (yuck!)