Oak Bay wants to send deer vets onto your lawn this fall

The last trial dropped Oak Bay's adult-deer population by nearly half in four years, and cut fawns by about 60% after a single season of shots. Now the district wants back onto private property to do it again.

Starting in early September and running to the end of October, veterinarians from HERD Wildlife Management will search public and private land for female deer to vaccinate, typically between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. The catch, the district says, is that deer wander through residential yards, so backyard access means more does reached. Owners willing to open the gate can fill out a consent form at oakbay.ca/deer.

The pitch lands during a rough summer for deer elsewhere on the South Island. Sooke wildlife volunteer Kelly Chartier knows of at least 30 fawns left motherless this spring after does were struck by drivers, and she's now selling $10 "Orphaned fawns crossing" lawn signs that sold out the moment they were posted. "Fawns are dang cute, and I think everybody's seen Bambi," she said.

The stewardship society estimates roughly 100 deer live in Oak Bay at any given time. That's a long way from 2015, when the district trapped and killed 11 deer with a bolt gun.