Montreal, May 25, 2022 – The Montreal SPCA is seeking leave to intervene in the lawsuit filed against the City of Longueuil in a bid to halt the planned cull of white-tailed deer this fall in Michel-Chartrand Park.  

Through their attorney Anne-France Goldwater, Service Sauvetage Animal (also known as Sauvetage Animal Rescue) and Longueuil resident Florence Meney filed an Application for Judicial Review and Safeguard Order last week against the City of Longueuil and the Quebec Ministère des Forêts, de la Faune et des Parcs. The lawsuit aims to urgently suspend the implementation of any decision by the City of Longueuil concerning the capture and killing of white-tailed deer in Michel-Chartrand Park in order to then challenge the legality of the decision.

As the largest animal protection organization in Quebec, the Montreal SPCA wishes to make its views known in this case, particularly in light of the escalating problems of white-tailed deer overpopulation in urban and peri-urban areas in recent years. 

“We are seeking to intervene in this lawsuit to broaden the debate and to trigger a real reflection on the ways communities can live harmoniously with wildlife,” explains Sophie Gaillard, Director of Animal Advocacy and Legal Affairs for the Montreal SPCA. “With urban sprawl and climate change, managing the overpopulation of certain species, in a manner that is both sustainable and respectful of animal welfare, is becoming a pressing issue.” 

As part of its intervention, the Montreal SPCA will argue that animals’ status as “sentient beings” in the Civil Code of Quebec, which was granted to them in 2015, requires that governments take into account their sentient nature and therefore their welfare. In this context, the decision by the City of Longueuil to capture the deer and kill them using a captive bolt gun, followed by bleeding, is problematic in several respects: 

• First, at the procedural level, no independent animal welfare organization was involved in the consultations undertaken by the City of Longueuil regarding possible management options.
   
• Second, the method chosen by the City of Longueuil, which involves trapping the deer and killing them using a captive bolt gun, followed by bleeding, carries a high risk of injury and suffering. Captive bolt guns are designed to be used on immobilized livestock in a controlled environment, such as a slaughterhouse. In order to cause an immediate loss of consciousness, the captive bolt gun must be placed directly on the animal’s skull in a specific place, which requires the animal to be completely still for at least a few seconds in a row. However, it would be difficult to completely immobilize a wild deer struggling in a trap for several seconds without heavy sedation or anaesthesia, which are not part of the City of Longueuil’s plan. Such circumstances would make it almost impossible to properly position the captive bolt gun on the deer’s skull, leading to a high risk of repeated failed attempts and therefore of injury and suffering, as can be seen in footage shot in Oak Bay, British Columbia, prior to the implementation of non-lethal methods of deer management (see explanations in the Appendix). Furthermore, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), which publishes authoritative guidelines on euthanasia methods, does not consider the captive bolt gun to be an acceptable means of killing free-ranging wildlife. 
   
• Finally, by apparently omitting any preventive component (such as sterilization or chemical contraception of the deer due to remain on site at Michel-Chartrand Park), the City of Longueuil’s plan condemns these animals and their offspring to repeated lethal interventions as the population increases over the years. Because of deer’s sentient nature, population control methods that keep animals alive should be prioritized, and lethal measures should only be considered as a last resort. 

“When we look at what is being done elsewhere, we see that responsible, ethical and innovative wildlife management that is science-based and supported by expert opinion, is indeed possible,” says Gaillard. “It is crucial for Quebec to develop its expertise in this type of approach. The deer problem in Michel-Chartrand Park is an ideal opportunity to test new population control methods here in Quebec, in the form of a research project that would contribute to evolving scientific knowledge in this field.” 

The Montreal SPCA is represented in this case by Marie-Claude St-Amant, a partner at Melançon Marceau Grenier Cohen, LLP, who also chairs the SPCA’s board of directors. Service Sauvetage Animal and Ms. Meney’s application will be presented before the Superior Court in Longueuil on June 15th. 

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Source: Montreal SPCA

Media contact: Anita Kapuscinska, Senior Consultant, Corporate Development and Media Relations, Montréal SPCA, 514-656-2760, anitak@spca.com.

About the Montréal SPCA – Founded in 1869, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (now known simply as the Montréal SPCA) was the first animal-welfare organization in Canada. Today, the Montreal SPCA is the largest animal protection organization in Quebec, speaking on behalf of animals wherever there is ignorance, cruelty, exploitation, or neglect.

Appendix: Examples of non-lethal methods implemented elsewhere  

Surgical sterilization (vasectomy) 
From 2017 to 2021, more than 2,000 male white-tailed deer were captured and vasectomized on Staten Island, New York, as part of an intensive government sterilization program. A 24% reduction in total population and an 84% decrease in births were recorded in 2020.  

Surgical sterilization (ovariectomy) 
As part of a large-scale study, surgical sterilization, primarily through the removal of the ovaries, was performed on 493 female white-tailed deer between 2012 and 2020 within peri-urban and geographically open sites in six U.S. states with overabundant deer populations (California, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Virginia). The authors of the study noted an average decrease of 25% in deer numbers from year one to year two, followed by an average decrease of 45% in the total population four years after the first treatment for all six sites combined. This study demonstrates that significant reductions in local deer densities can be achieved using surgical sterilization programs even in non-insular environments (with the method proving even more effective in isolated populations).  

Immuno-contraception 
In 2019, the municipality of Oak Bay, British Columbia, partnered with the Urban Wildlife Stewardship Society (UWSS) to implement a science-based strategy for urban deer management, with support and funding from the Province of British Columbia. In the fall of 2019, immuno-contraceptive vaccines were administered to 60 female black-tailed deer present in the community. After just one year, the relative abundance of fawns had declined by nearly 60%. It is interesting to note that, prior to the implementation of this program, Oak Bay had spent over $150,000 in an attempt to lethally control the deer population. At that time, only 11 deer were trapped and killed using a captive bolt gun (the same method proposed by the City of Longueuil for the deer in Michel-Chartrand Park), causing public outcry.  

Relocation 
In the United States, relocation is commonly used for certain species of ungulates, such as elk and pronghorn, with low mortality even over long distances, though both of these species are considerably more susceptible to capture stress than white-tailed deer. In 2018 in Ontario, nine caribou were captured, sedated and relocated by air to a new habitat free of natural predators in an effort to promote their survival. In the spring of 2022, there were just over 30 caribou in this new habitat, and they seem to be thriving. 

In one of the most recent studies on relocation, conducted from 2016 to 2018 in British Columbia, 135 urban black-tailed deer were captured and relocated to the wild. The survival rate of relocated urban deer in their new habitat was 48% in the first year and 62% in the second year, compared to 77% for local deer that had not been relocated. However, the majority of relocated deer deaths were attributable to human factors, in part due to the decision to slaughter any deer re-entering an urban area. The study indicates that the age of the deer at relocation is one of the main factors affecting their survival rate, with survival being significantly higher for young animals.