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Pender residents, COS help deer in distress

Wildlife
deer
Conservation officer Nicole Caithness with a young deer that was wounded by a poorly aimed arrow.

The Conservation Officer Service (COS) is reminding hunters to take care to ensure their rifles and bows are “sighted in” after Sunshine Coast conservation officers had to help a deer that was wounded by a poorly aimed arrow.

A Pender Harbour resident spotted the young buck in their back yard Oct. 27 and called the COS. The arrow was stuck in the deer’s back just under the spine.

Conservation Officers successfully immobilized the deer and removed the shaft of a crossbow bolt from the animal. The wound was cleaned and the concerned residents gave the deer some oral antibiotics to prevent the spread of infection in the wound. 

“The Conservation Officer Service would like to remind all hunters that it is imperative to sight in your bow or rifle prior to hunting, and if in doubt about your ability to make a shot, just don’t take it,” conservation officer Nicole Caithness said in a release this week.

“Poor shot placements lead to unnecessary suffering of wildlife and reflect poorly on the hunting community, especially in highly populated areas where many non-hunters will see injured wildlife with bullet or arrow wounds walking around.”

It is an offence to hunt or discharge a firearm (including a bow or crossbow) within 100 metres of any residence.