Andrew West walks the Hunters Bay Trail five times a week with his dog and always enjoys the beautiful landscape and fresh summer air.
About a month ago, when he caught a whiff of a scent that he says would “take your breath away,” West discovered that there was a rotting deer carcass floating in the water beside the trail. And when he realized that it had already been there at least a week, West decided to take matters into his own hands.
“I spoke to the deputy (clerk) of the town and explained where it was. I even took pictures. She said she would look into it and get back to me. She was true to her word but told me that the Ministry of Environment would not let them remove it as they wanted to let nature take its course,” said West.
West says he has no idea how the deer got there in the first place and he wasn’t about to get into the water and look it over.
“It needs to be removed,” said West. “(Hunters Bay Trail is) a beautiful trail and if this deer was caught at the town docks I am certain it would have been removed by now no questions asked.”
When Doppler contacted the Town, staff said that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) deals with all wildlife and waterways.
“Sometimes the death of wildlife is a natural process and occurs frequently, we usually just don’t know about it,” said Jolanta Kowalski from the MNRF. “The Ministry of Natural Resources doesn’t interfere with that process by removing wildlife that dies of natural causes on Crown land, including waterbodies.”
Thankfully, the rotting carcass and the intense odour it created recently disappeared. Was it nature taking care of itself, or someone taking care of it for us? We will probably never know. Regardless, West is happy to be able to enjoy his daily walk without the noxious smell.
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Maybe the mnr should use some of the money they steal from hunters every year over petty crap…… Maybe just go clean up the dear