by Daniel N. Paul, CM, ONS, Mi’kmaw Elder & Historian

The dire results of messing with the balances of Mother Nature

It’s time to take the bounty off of coyotes and allow them to increase in population in order to help reduce the overabundance of deer in this Province to where they are not a deadly nuisance.

Predators are part and parcel of Mother Nature’s balancing act and when their numbers are diminished to where they are no longer effective in controlling the birth explosion of their prime food sources, deer, rabbits, etc., human safety is put at risk and property damage, caused by colliding with big animals on highways, increases dramatically.

Last summer a deer stepped out in front of a motorcyclist and the collision killed the driver. A few weeks ago another cyclist met the same fate when he collided with a deer. Last October, on Route 2 outside of Hilden, in the early evening, a deer stepped out in front of our car, the damage was $9,500.00.

On June 12th the wife and I travelled to Saint John. Before we crossed the New Brunswick border we counted two deer carcases killed by auto collisions. On June 17th, on our way home, we counted two more. On June 18th, we took a one day trip to Moncton and by time we returned home that evening we counted five more!

Insurance rates are due to go up this year, is it any wonder? The few crashes I’ve mentioned probably had damages incurred that exceeded one hundred thousand dollars.

The following two sightings give a picture of the ...