Almost 70% of residents in the City of Cranbrook favour another cull to help control and manage the deer population in the city.

A recently undertaken city survey was unanimously accepted by council and sent to the city’s Urban Deer Committee May 12, that provides a variety of information for city decision makers moving forward.

A total of 69.93% of 929 survey respondents stated they favour another cull, the results show.

Additionally, almost 60% of respondents said they remain concerned about the deer population in Cranbrook, with another 11.52% slightly concerned, while 19.81% are not concerned at all, 5.49% are somewhat concerned and 3.44% remain neutral.

City Corporate Communications Director Chris Zettel explained in his report to council that while 1,470 surveys were completed online, a check of IP addresses showed that only 929 were city-based, while 681 were from other areas.

“Interesting to note, the local survey results were found to be one response per local IP address. Results deemed outside of town, staff found as many as 18 responses from a single IP address, and staff concluded that outside sources were attempting to skew the survey results,” Zettel pointed out.

Mayor Wayne Stetski noted that 66.37% of the non-locals also support another cull.

“The results are fairly similar,” he said.

Coun. Diana J. Scott said she read the report thoroughly, including the compendious volume of comments.

“We’re getting a lot more focus on safety” from survey respondents, she said.

The deer committee will now digest the survey results and return to council with its recommendations.

See full survey results here.

Ian Cobb/e-KNOW

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