Employing foreign sharpshooters in helicopters to cull deer inhabiting a small coastal B.C. island could cost taxpayers over $12 million, suggest newly released government documents.
According to figures unearthed by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation via an access-to-information act, Parks Canada has earmarked $12 million to fund a multi-phase “Fur to Forest” program, which employs non-Canadian helicopter-mounted sharpshooters to eradicate an invasive herd of European fallow deer from Sidney Island — a nine-square-kilometre tract of land off the coast of Vancouver Island.[…]
A total of 84 deer were killed during last year’s cull between Dec. 1 and 11.
As well, Parks Canada confirmed a little under a quarter of the culled animals weren’t actually invasive deer, but species native to Sidney Island.
Someone in the deep bowels of Libranos Inc. cashed in on that contract. Count on it.
There will be many hunters that would shoot the deer just for the meat and only charge six or seven million. What a joke
Should have hired some “good old boys” from Alberta and Saskatchewan, fly them out to Sidney Island, pay for accommodation/food and let them “have at it”. They would have had fun and the problem would have been solved. But “Oh NO!”, civil servants in Ottawa always know better!”
That’s about $185k per deer. This is why we should never let the government do anything that requires thinking.
Not only would the hunters do it for free, the deer would have been used for food.
They did use it for food… all 800 kg of it.
So, about $7500 per kg, based on the 6 million they spent so far.
Name one invasive species program that the government got right?
Purple loosestrife , emerald ash borer, zebra mussels, gobies.
Huge programs, tons of money and zero results.
” no results” ?
“tons of money” and “huge programs” were the results. That’s what government programs are for. Someone at Parks Canada got to write a proposal, go to meetings, and manage a project and spend a big budget and put it all on their resume and they’ll be a contender for a big promotion.
The jury is still out on the Gazan refugee invasive species…..oh, wait.
Fallow deer are only 3 feet tall. Someone on the ground wouldn’t mistake species. If my father was still alive, hire him for a year for 50 grand and he would take care of the problem. I suspect he’d be on his way home in a few weeks. It’s a tiny island.
How much would it cost to cull 84 Liberals on Turtle Island?
Western governments are incapable. Unless one needs to waste millions on programs that produce no tangible benefit to anyone, like say, painting the highway with rainbow colors because…we should all be encouraged to run down gay people with our vehicles?
Period. The end.
I can’t wait to see how Steven Guilbeau’s elves in Parks Canada solve the feral hog population that’s rooting through Saskatchewan. Montana has already served notice that they don’t want these beasts crossing into their state.
If you’re on an island, aren’t all species invasive?
I mean, it’s not like they sprang forth from the soil or perchance, placed by a Creator?
Hey, step away from that bible and put down that mallet! We don’t want to trigger old GYM.