Why removing a dead deer from the Thames River wasn't a situation of passing the buck

Warning: Some readers may find photos in this story distressing.

When a deer turned up dead in the Thames River near a busy downtown section of the Thames Valley Parkway this week, it was such a rare situation that officials weren't certain who should remove it, or if it should be removed at all.

"It's unsightly," pedestrian Raquel Lopez said, spotting the deer when she walked over the King Street Bridge.

"It's going to break down and then there's going to be other things eating it and causing all kinds of other problems."

The carcass was first reported on Thursday morning and the city received multiple more calls about it. People were redirected to the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA), who typically deals with matters related to the waterway.

But the UTRCA bounced the issue back to the city. It said it doesn't remove carcasses from the river.

Dead animals frequently turn up in the river, according to Brandon Williamson who is in charge of land management at the UTRCA. The difference is that they typically show up in rural areas, away from the public eye, he said.

"It's a natural process," Williamson explained, adding that deer who are sick or injured might instinctively gravitate to a body of water.

Both the city and the UTRCA stressed how unique this situation was, saying it is probably a first. On Friday afternoon, the city said they had hired a private contractor to remove the deer.

"This was a unique situation that took additional measures to respond to but we're glad to report it's been resolved," Paul Yeoman, the Director of Parks and Forestry for the city said.

"We generally don't have dead wildlife in or along the river that needs to be addressed to this scale," he said.

Without hiring an outside company, removal of a carcasse isn't straightforward. The city says the river isn't its jurisdiction, and it has to consider the safety of its staff and the local ecosystem.

The conservation authority's Williamson said, that while it is responsible for managing the river, removal of wildlife and debris is generally a function of a municipality. The difference here is that the wildlife doesn't normally need removal from a river within city limits.

City staff plan to debrief the situation, Yeoman said, to determine what to do if it happens again.

It's not known why the deer died, but Williamson said if no one had stepped up to remove the carcass, it likely would have decomposed, with scavengers like turkey vultures or a coyote helping with the process.