A Vancouver Island resident is out several hundred dollars after attempting to keep a baby deer.
During a press briefing on Thursday, the BC Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS) says that a fawn was seized from a Cumberland residence on August 12.
The person who decided to keep the fawn was issued a fine of $345 for unlawful possession of live wildlife.
According to BCCOS Deputy Chief Chris Doyle, the baby deer was taken in for a health assessment and will be released in the wild if it is healthy enough.
This is the second time this summer that a Vancouver Island resident has been fined for taking in reportedly abandoned wildlife.
In June, the BCCOS announced that they had been receiving a much higher number of calls than normal about orphaned fawns picked up by residents on Vancouver Island.
In response, Doyle reminded the public that deer often leave their young for several hours at a time and that this does not mean the fawns are orphaned.
For most cases, Conservation Officers advised the residents of where the leave the fawns for the mother to find. In some cases, officers had to attend in person to reunite the baby deer with their mother.
B.C. residents can report all wildlife-human interactions that put the public and animals at risk by calling 1-877-952-7277 (RAPP) or #7277 on the TELUS Mobility Network.
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