WildSafe coordinator heads door-to-door
By Shara JJ Cooper
WildSafeBC coordinator Laurie Grant made a presentation to Grand Forks city council this week at Monday’s committee of the whole meeting. She told council that she is has created a survey and is going to be going door-to-door in the coming weeks.
“Now that spring is in the air I’ve begun canvassing and will continue in full force. With the warmer weather, residents are able to have their doors open for a few moments and step outside to discuss their deer concerns and strategies,” she explained. “To date, response of the survey has been very positive with community members interested to supply feedback and happy to see education being carried out.”
Grant says that “everyone has a deer story to tell” and invites the public to join the local WildSafe Facebook page and to report data to on wildlife spotting. She would like some local volunteers to contribute data on a weekly or monthly basis so WildSafe has a consistent and continuing input of wild animals data into their database.
This April Grant is starting to go to local classrooms along with conservation officer Dave Webster and Brenda LaCroix from the Christina Lake Stewardship Society.
At the meeting, Grant stressed that deer that are born in the city want to stay in the city but if the public reduces the attractions in town, they can encourage the next generation of deer to be born in the wild.
Mayor Brian Taylor asked for more feedback on what the public was saying when she went door-to-door. Grant reaffirmed that the stories were positive but added that no one had admitted to her that they feed the deer.
The spring deer count is coming on April 25 and Coun. Gary Smith encourages anyone interested in taking part, to call him 250-443-1356 to make arrangements.
