A controversial plan to eradicate invasive deer on a small British Columbia island is facing more criticism. The next phase of the cull of European fallow deer on Sydney Island involves fencing them before shooting them. But that plan is having some unintended consequences.

Over the weekend, some island residents were involved in two incidents in which they discovered deer tangled in the fence. In both cases, people were able to free the deer, which appeared distressed.

“You can see he’s stressed,” island resident Wendy Ord said during an interview Tuesday, referencing a video of one such incident sent to CTV News.

“That he is resisting. He’s trying to get out of the net…(b)by the time I got there, which was about 20 minutes later, the deer was gone – his head was completely tangled in the net and he was exhausted and panicking, and lying in the network. floor.”

In the video, people can be seen restraining the deer while cutting it from the net, before it can free itself.

“I wonder how in the world the BC SPCA could have tolerated this project,” Ord added.

The government consulted the SPCA ahead of its eradication plan, and the animal welfare organization tells CTV it is asking Parks Canada questions about this to improve procedures.

“Owners who are not trained in wildlife management are having to rescue these poor animals outside the fence,” Sidney Island resident Carla Purves told CTV on Monday. “I mean, it’s just horrible.”

The plan has been controversial from the beginning.

From the costs of the balloon flight (at last check, the price was $12.7 million) to the use of American and New Zealand snipers shooting deer from helicopters.

Beyond the money, there have also been questions about effectiveness, as snipers initially killed only 84 deer.

Some who have protested against the plan fear that many more deer will be trapped and suffer for long periods in remote places where people cannot see them.

“They’re supposed to check the networks every day,” Ord said. “I don’t know how that’s possible. On this island there are 35 kilometers of networks. “Thirty-five kilometres, to put it into context, is the distance between the Vancouver airport and Horseshoe Bay.”

Parks Canada declined CTV’s request for an interview about the project aimed at restoring native vegetation, but said in a statement that it is investigating these incidents, adding that people should contact their agency instead of attempting to release wildlife in situations how are you doing.

The fence has been up since July, and Parks Canada said it has only documented five cases of trapped deer, with four of those cases occurring over the past week. He says one of those deer was euthanized.