Yesterday early morning, a deer was signalled around Toronto's Union Station. From there, it travelled north and settled in a small garden of an apartment building, from where it was ultimately removed by police.
It is hardly a secret that Toronto is one of the greenest metropolises on our planet, and rumour has it that -next to Paris- Toronto is the metropolis with the most wildlife. Toronto inhabitants can enjoy a wide range of parks, ravines and nature preserves with lots of flora and fauna, unequalled anywhere. After all, in how many cities can you take the subway to see the salmon run, to take but one example?
As a result, wildlife often spills over and sometimes even settles in the downtown core. Squirrels are everywhere, and Torontonians also enjoy the company of thousands of raccoons. Foxes seem to be increasing in numbers, and birds of prey can often be seen as well, sometimes from very close by.
Yesterday however, the downtown core was visited by a white-tailed deer (
Odocoileus virginianus), and that was a rare treat. Since human-deer communication isn't particularly good, the question of where it came from and what it did there remained unanswered, but it is speculated that the deer came from somewhere around the Don river looking for food and then jumped from garden to front yard while traffic volumes were low.
Probably tired after a whole night of foraging and running, it got trapped by heavier traffic in the downtown core which made it decide to nestle down in a safe looking front yard of a building at the South-West corner of the intersection of Edward Street and Chestnut Street.
In circumstances like these, normal procedure is to let the animal be, and once night falls, it simply returns to wherever it came from. In this case however, this wasn't an option, given that unforeseen incidents could startle the deer, and make it run away, posing a real threat to its own safety and that of the public.
After much consideration and consulting with Toronto wildlife services and the mammal department of the Toronto Zoo, it was decided to tranquilize the deer and to return it to the wild. The deer was shot with a tranquilizer dart, after which it tried to run away, leaving the police no option but to taser it. It was then taken to the Toronto Zoo where it was checked out and released on the Leslie Spit, near Tommy Thompson Park, one of Toronto's largest parks and a world-renowned birding site.
It was a good reminder for Torontonians that we are not alone, and that we share our environment with other creatures. And, since we were celebrating the 150th birthday of Charles Darwin "Origin" yesterday, we should not forget that these creatures are our cousins, our family. And no sane person would hurt her/his own family. Right?
