Havre Town Hall about city deer population set for Monday in City Hall

The city of Havre’s next Town Hall is set for Monday of next week at 7 p.m. at City Hall and will feature a presentation by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks about the city’s deer problem and a control plan for the increasingly problematic animals.

For the past few years, Havre has seen an influx of deer that are becoming more and more present within city limits which many residents see as a nuisance, and many wildlife experts are concerned is detrimental to the deer as well.

In the past few months a number of deer have been found dead, and most appear to have died due to consuming human food, which their bodies are not built for.

Experts also say as deer become more used to living in a human environment, the less capable they are of surviving in the wild, and their increasing comfort around humans only makes them harder to remove from an area.

Residents have been expressing frustration about the deer population for some time now and while the city has passed ordinances making feeding them illegal, many in the area want more to be done.

Regulations restrict what the city or state agencies can do to get rid of the animals making it difficult to deal with the issue directly but FWP will be presenting a control plan at Monday’s town hall that Havre Mayor Doug Kaercher hopes will help.

Kaercher said he’s not sure at this point what the contents of the plan will be but he’s hoping for assurances that if the plan is implemented there will be a significant reduction in the deer population.

He said there will be time for members of the public to ask questions of FWP and the city is encouraging them to do so.