What a waste

[Davey Boy]

Info obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers federation



Parks Canada spending $12 million hunting deer on tiny island

At $10,000 a deer, this is already an expensive hunting trip.

But the bill – paid by you, of course – is about to get a whole lot bigger.

It turns out there’s an invasive deer species on a tiny B.C. island that keeps eating up native vegetation, tree seedlings and shrubs.

Local property owners on Sidney Island have been organizing hunts to kill the invasive deer. They even managed to shoot 54 last fall, at no cost to taxpayers.

But then Parks Canada stepped in and said the nine scariest words in the English language: We’re from the government and we’re here to help.

So, naturally, Parks Canada hired some foreign sharpshooters and rented a helicopter to gun down the deer on the tiny island.

Phase one of the hunting operation cost more than $800,000, with the expert marksmen only managing to take down 84 deer.

That’s $10,000 a deer…

And eighteen of those were the wrong kind of deer.

Well, it turns out hunting does get a tad more expensive when you’re the government and instead of a normal rifle, you bring assault rifles, instead of a box of shells, you bring a crate of ammo, and instead of tagging along with a buddy, you hire foreign snipers and rent a chopper.

Government records dug up by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation show the $800,000 spent on phase one of the Sidney Island deer hunt is just the tip of the iceberg.

Parks Canada earmarked $12 million for the entire project – more than double the cost previously disclosed.

A total of $4.1 million will go towards the killing of deer, while $2.8 million will be spent on Parks Canada staff salaries, $1.4 million will cover studies and analysis, and millions more will go towards “miscellaneous” expenses.

Phase two of the hunting operation, which will involve ground hunting with dogs, is slated to begin this fall.