The growing number of deer in Redcliff has become a concern and the town is introducing an anti-feeding bylaw. (Photo Courtesy Bob Schneider)

By Chris Brown

Town council hopes new bylaw will reduce deer on Redcliff streets

Jan 19, 2023 | 4:58 PM

REDCLIFF, AB – The occasional deer visiting your yard or walking down the street can be a cute bit of nature in an urban environment.

But as residents in Redcliff have learned, too many can be a nuisance and potentially a danger, such as when a large mule deer buck attacked two dogs late last year it put a sharp focus on just how many deer are roaming the town’s streets.

Mayor Dwight Kilpatrick says it’s a problem that’s been growing over the past 10 or 15 years.

“We went from seeing a few deer in town to you can’t drive around town without seeing deer,” he says.

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The opinions of residents on the deer range from those who love seeing them all to those who are indifferent to those who want fewer deer around, the mayor says.

People in the community feeding the deer is the most common complaint he hears about the issue. To address this, an anti-feeding bylaw has been introduced.

“We’re hoping that if we can stop the feeding of the animals at least then they may move along more,” Kilpatrick says.

Such a bylaw follows the advice from Joel Nicholson, a wildlife biologist with Alberta Environment and Protected Areas who met with the town a few months ago. He has first-hand knowledge of the situation in the town, having lived in Redcliff for more than 20 years.

He says deer are a natural part of the landscape and they are here to stay, especially in communities built in river valleys like Redcliff and Medicine Hat.

“We do have deer that are very habituated to living in the city, the town. They probably were born here, grew up here,” he says.

Nicholson says the first measure any community should take is to try to prevent the habituation of wildlife to humans.

His first piece of advice is don’t feed the deer, and not only because it gets them more comfortable in the town.

“The other issue of course that we have in southern Alberta is chronic wasting disease and so that’s another reason why we don’t want members of the public feeding deer is that can actually spread chronic wasting disease more rapidly,” Nicholson says.

Handouts from people aren’t the only reason deer come and stay in urban areas. There are also natural food sources like flowers, plant and fruit trees.

“We’re hoping that if we can stop the feeding of the animals at least then they may move along more,” –_{Dwight Kilpatrick}

Kilpatrick says in the spring the town will likely move to educating residents about those and giving tips about what they could plant that isn’t attractive to deer.

“If we can encourage residents to start using more deer-unfriendly plants, the more you eliminate the food source the more likely they are to move away.”

The anti-feeding bylaw has passed first reading. It will be back before town council in February.