A new TELUS documentary is featuring the Southern Interior Mule Deer Project.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Christopher Spencer
December 23, 2021 - 8:00 PM
B.C.'s largest mule deer project is being brought into the media spotlight as part of a feature documentary.
Community for the Wild, a TELUS original film, showcases the Southern Interior Mule Deer Project, the largest collaborative mule deer research project in B.C.’s history, with more than 200 volunteers.
Jesse Zeman, executive director with the B.C. Wildlife Federation, is part of the project and was interviewed for the documentary.
READ MORE: Cougars and mule deer have a tight relationship, UBC Okanagan researcher says
The project aims to determine why the mule deer population is declining in the Interior. Deer are currently being tracked in the Boundary, the Westside of Okanagan Lake and in the Bonaparte Plateau areas using collars and cameras, collecting data to determine how to restore the deer populations.
The project has been ongoing for several years, with conversations originally starting about the mule deer populations in 2010.
“This whole business of keeping fire off the landscape is bad for mule deer and we also know that it’s bad for people’s houses and people’s health. And so, there may be an overlap where we can go out and do really good things for wildlife and also mitigate uncontrollable wildfires,” Zeman said.
A new TELUS documentary is featuring the Southern Interior Mule Deer Project.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Christopher Spencer
With climate change being top of mind with this year’s flooding and wildfires, the public is very aware we need to do a better job of managing wildlife and habitats, he said.
“The only challenge in this is getting the provincial and federal governments in that direction, thinking about the lot term,” he said.
Director Christopher Spencer said the idea to cover the mule deer project was part of his passion for the sciences and came out of a presentation during a backcountry fish and games meeting.
“I just thought, why not pull my passions together of what I know how to do, which is make content and what I love, which is wildlife and the outdoors and help shine a light on an important topic,” he said.
The documentary is currently available on demand for TELUS Optik TV subscribers and will be available in the new year via YouTube but a date has not yet been set.
A fawn researchers are studying as part of the Southern Interior Mule Deer Project.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Christopher Spencer
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