St. Andrews considers trucking deer to northern N.B.

St. Andrews councillors are considering some radical ideas to get the over-abundant deer population under control, including transporting the animals to northern New Brunswick and using border collies to run the deer out of town.

"We're looking for a miracle," said Mayor Doug Naish, to reduce the herds of deer feasting on the community's plants and trees.

"I think we're beyond thinking outside the box. We just have to throw away the box and start from scratch."

Town council debated the ever-present deer problem last week.

Aside from the fact that deer love to munch on the town's foliage, there are concerns from residents about vehicle collisions with deer and the possibility of the animals carrying ticks with Lyme disease.

The deer population in St. Andrews has been relatively high for several years, likely due to mild winters and the town's greenery, but the mayor says the animal's birth rates seem to have gone up this year.

The province estimated in 2014 the deer population was about 180 in Saint Andrews, according to Naish. The population of full-time residents in St. Andrews is just over 1,800.

"Basically we say they live here and we're just the visitors. They really run the place," said Lynn Allport, a St. Andrews resident.

Provinceagainst trucking deer north

Naish has been one of the main proponents of rounding up the deer, putting the animals on a truck and transporting them to northern communities in the province where the deer population isn't very high.

"If we could just put some of our deer back in northern New Brunswick,that's a possible solution," said Naish.

Marc-Andr Chiasson, a communications officer withthe Department of Energy and Resource Development, said the province strongly disagrees with that idea.

"[The department]does not support the proposal to trap and relocate white-tailed deer within NewBrunswick," saidChiasson.

"These programs are very expensive, take several years of effort to undertake and there are high deer mortality rates linked to relocation."

Next week, St. Andrews town council will vote on whether to ask the province to implement a deer management program, which would include a limited hunt in October.

Naishbelieves transporting the deer north could happenin conjunction with a provincial management program.

"We're at our wit's end,' Naish said.

Dogs vs. deer

The mayor also proposed the idea of using trained border collies to drive the deer out of town, which he says he heard has been used in the United States.

"Eventually [the deer] got tired of being driven out of town and didn't go back again," said Naish.

Of the St. Andrews residents CBC News spoke to, most were on board with transporting the deer out of town, but some voiced concerns about throwing dogs into the mix.

"The dogs, I can't see that. Dogs and deer don't work well together as far as I know," said Sheina Percival

"I suspect to run them out, they might just make their way back at some point," said Lynn Allport.

But like many people in the picturesque seaside town, Bob Brown wants something to be done so he can take down the many tall fences that keep deer out of his wife's gardens.

"Get it together and let's do something here," said Brown.

CBC News has reported that overall the deer population in New Brunswick has declined in New Brunswick 70 per cent over the past 30 years.