Penticton wants public feedback on draft urban deer plan<\/p>\n
Published 11:58 am Thursday, October 22, 2026<\/p>\n
The City of Penticton has created a draft stategy for dealing with the urban deer population and it is looking for public feedback before it\u2019s finalized.<\/p>\n
Residents are asked to provide input by Nov. 18 on the draft strategy, which focuses on public education, data collection, ongoing monitoring and clear communication with residents. <\/p>\n
According to the draft strategy report, there were 354 calls about urban deer in Penticton in 2024, with about 50 of those calls were due to defensive deer and only of those came during fawning season. <\/p>\n
In the same year, 24 deer were destroyed due to injury or vehicle collisions, not because of aggression. The number of deceased deer calls have remained consistent over the last 10 years, with an average of 70 calls a year, the city said. <\/p>\n
The strategy also highlights the need for more local data to better understand Penticton\u2019s urban deer population and support future decisions. To help gather this information, the city is seeking volunteers for a fall urban deer count.<\/p>\n
The count is expected to take place over one morning in mid-November. Volunteers will attend a virtual orientation meeting in advance and work in pairs to observe and count deer in assigned areas of the city.<\/p>\n
One of the other aspects of the strategy calls for support for monitoring of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), which has been reported in nearby regions including the Kootenays in recent years. CWD is a fatal prion disease that can spread both directly between deer and indirectly through exposure to contamination in the environment. <\/p>\n