Everyone eventually dies, including Bowen Island’s many, many deer. But, there’s no such thing as an ungulate undertaker – or is there?
While many deer die away from heavy human traffic, it’s not infrequent that one appears at the side of the road or, as happened last week, in front of the Hearth Gallery.
In that case, Bowen Waste Solutions picks up and brings the carcasses to a municipally designated site on the island. (This is a solution many rural places use – some more urban locations use animal crematoriums.)
When someone sees a dead deer on public property, they’re to call Bowen Waste (604-947-2255) and leave a message with an approximate location.
“A lot of people don’t know, north from south or east or west so sometimes it takes us a day to find it,” says Louise McIntosh, owner of Bowen Waste.
For deer found on private property there is a fee for Bowen Waste to pick it up. If one has a large property, one may also chose to simply bury the deer.
Most of the calls Bowen Waste gets are for dead deer but there’s the occasional call for a dead squirrel (“That’s usually somebody who has just moved to Bowen,”) or dead skunk.
In the winter months, deer deaths rise – right now Bowen Waste is seeing probably a few dead deer a week. “Often it’s weather related,” says McIntosh. “Or the deer population has had a late birthing date.” When the does drop their young a bit too late in the season, the fawns don’t get the chance to fatten up for winter. They find more yearlings than mature deer – the mature deer apparently finding less populated locations to die.
Sometimes summer residents return to their island homes after winter and find something under the porch. “That’s usually where we send the rookies,” says McIntosh.
On the other hand, in the summer, McIntosh might not have a call for a dead deer for a couple of months.
The annual cycle aside, the year-to-year deer call-in numbers are pretty steady, says McIntosh.
McIntosh also adds that no deer, or any other animal (bird, chicken, skunk, rat included) belong in the garbage or compost bins. Food scraps are allowed but no intact dead animals.
Do you have a ‘How does this Bowen thing work’ question? Email [email protected] and we’ll ask around.
