I witnessed death Saturday morning.
I can’t unsee it.
Coming home from shopping, east bound, just before Les Swab’s, we saw two deer along the highway.
The lead deer jumped into our path causing me to slam on the brakes as it darted on to the highway and head on into an oncoming car.
You could hear bones breaking from the impact as the deer flipped 360 degrees in air landing on the hood of the car.
The next deer then crossed, with traffic slowing and a third young spike came out of the bushes and followed suit.
Are they pests or pets?
Beautiful to look at, delicious to eat, at the same time.
More of this will happen as 30,000 vehicles on average travel this road daily.
The results could have been much worse.
So, what to do?
The deer are unafraid as they are not food anymore.
They’re fed well from our gardens.
Would signage help? Should we sterilize, euthanize or maybe hunt them?
Perhaps transport them to a different location?
Culling the herd, death by car, is not a good option.
I will petition the city council to put this on their agenda, to advertise and invite the public to participate in an open forum to solve the problem.
The folks in the car that hit the deer, lives have been changed forever.We prayed they were spared from physical harm.
Robert A Beausoleil
Port Angeles