A survey carried out a little over six months ago by the Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks confirms that there were, at the time, 108 white-tailed deer in Michel-Chartrand Park in Longueuil. In 2021 there were 72 and in 2017 there were only 32.
The same survey reveals, however, that there would be even more animals in an almost neighboring park, the Boisé du Tremblay, which extends over 260 hectares, from Longueuil to Boucherville. Last February, 117 deer were counted there. The herd has increased considerably there too because the ministry had counted only 61 animals in 2021.
In the sector, there is also a small herd of 5 or 6 animals in the Pratt & Whitney wooded area, behind the company’s premises located on Marie-Victorin Boulevard.
The survey carried out by the ministry on behalf of the City of Longueuil, and which paid the costs, should be used to guide the next actions, namely the slaughter of a hundred animals in Michel-Chartrand Park this fall.
The City plans to organize a crossbow hunt to eliminate the hundred or so animals which, again according to the City, threaten the park’s ecosystem. That said, according to several citizens, there are now only about sixty deer in the park this summer. Deer advocates believe, moreover, that these beasts are domesticated or almost so and organizing a hunt to kill them in an urban park would be the equivalent of organizing a hunting safari at the Granby Zoo!
For now, however, the City of Longueuil cannot go ahead with its crossbow hunting operation because the Superior Court must hear a request to stop the process on September 28.