Green Party leader proposes wild deer cull

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mathepac

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Eamonn Ryan has reportedly suggested a nationwide deer cull in response to farmers' complaints about deer eating "their grass" which they
farmers need to feed their livestock. (RTE News: One O'Clock, 16 Feb 2023)

A rather startling response from the Greens about the terrifying threat of wildlife in the country.

If the farmers have concerns about the food needs of the deer why not build better fencing at their own expense and recover the costs of the investment like other business owners?

What deepartmint (deerpartmint?) is responsible for the deer and for confining their wanderings and feeding to public lands and maybe do a deal with them and the farmers and split the cost 50/50?

Killing wildlife isn't the answer ever,
 
Hi mathepac

The wild deer are not native to Ireland (except the red deer in isolated pockets), so there isn't a conservation or environmental reason for not culling them.

There could be an animal welfare reason for culling them as they have no natural predator and so their numbers can grow uncontrolled by predation.

Brendan
 
There are logical reasons for doing this and grass is only one of them. Over dense populations can have a negative impact on deer population themselves through the spread of disease, malnourishment etc. Deer also cause significant impact on forestry and trees and in some cases, are a danger for cars and drivers as well. M9 for example has signs up warning people to be aware of them and I've seen them on the verge at least twice.

Fencing is not necessarily the answer, Deer are big powerful and fast animals who can and will break through it. There is no return on investment for a farmer fencing his land to prevent loss from deer, it's an unneccesary overhead that would not be in his plan
 
I don't suppose there's any chance this will lead to a flood of venision :(

I wonder if large groups of deers may become host to pests, ticks, parasites etc which could then spread to native wildlife.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
... they have no natural predator and so their numbers can grow uncontrolled by predation.
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We humans rendered their natural predators extinct and we imported the non-native deer herds, but lets make sure the animals pay with their lives for our idiocy and mismanagement
 
odyssey06 said:
I wonder if large groups of deers may become host to pests
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Wild deer are highly susceptible to TB infection. In Great Britain they are generally considered to be spill-over hosts of TB i.e. they are unlikely to sustain the infection within their own population in the absence of infected cattle or a wildlife reservoir. The wild deer population in GB has been estimated to be well over two million with an annual cull of over 300,000.

There are usually only a few isolations of M. bovis from wild deer each year in GB. There is evidence that wild deer can be a reservoir of TB and can transmit TB both to other deer, and to cattle. This can occur where wild deer live or congregate at high population densities and commonly interact with cattle e.g. in South West England and the northern USA.
 
mathepac said:
We humans rendered their natural predators extinct and we imported the non-native deer herds, but lets make sure the animals pay with their lives for our idiocy and mismanagement
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As opposed to paying their lives to a predator or never living???
 
The idea that humans should now step back and stop interfering in the mess we've created isn't a runner, doing so would be a biodiversity disaster leading to even greater wildlife suffering. Over-population of any species affects many others through competition for food and destruction of habitat.

For some reason a lot of 'animal lovers' seem to happily prioritise certain attractive species over others without any awareness of the hypocrisy. The re-introduction of wolves to Yellowstone is a great example of where addressing over-population of dominating species including grazers has a very positive impact on the overall health and viability of many different species.
 
mathepac said:
Killing wildlife isn't the answer ever,
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Ah it is, sometimes.
I look forward to the day that I can eat a venison burger while wearing a fox skin jacket.
I see no difference between that and eating a cow burger while wearing cow skin jacket except the fox jacket will be warmer and the venison burger tastier.
 
Leo said:
The re-introduction of wolves to Yellowstone is a great example of where addressing over-population of dominating species including grazers has a very positive impact on the overall health and viability of many different species.
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Agree wholeheartedly. The Yellowstone example yielded amazing results from the re-introduction of wolves but is very different from culling.
 
mathepac said:
Agree wholeheartedly. The Yellowstone example yielded amazing results from the re-introduction of wolves but is very different from culling.
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Yea very different from culling; the deer get torn apart by wolves after a terrifying chase in which they are bitten and hurt and finally killed by one of the wolves sinking its teeth into the deer's tracia causing them to simultaneously choke and drown on their own blood. At least one other wolf is probably disembowelling the deer at the same time.

The animal dies naturally, in unimaginable fear and agony.

Ask yourself this, if you had a choice of being killed by a shot in the head or being torn apart by wolves which would you choose?
 
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Having had personal experience of two deer jumping out of nowhere near Clogheen in Tipperary, and very nearly causing an accident, a cull is certainly needed.

They are rampant down these parts especially around Glengarra/Kilcoran and the forested areas of Clogheen.
 
Purple said:
Yea very different from culling; the deer get torn apart by wolves after a terrifying chase in which they are bitten and hurt and finally killed by one of the wolves sinking its teeth into the deer's tracia causing them to simultaneously choke and drown on their own blood. At least one other wolf is probably disembowelling the deer at the same time.

The animal dies naturally, in unimaginable fear and agony.

Ask yourself this, if you had a choice of being killed by a shot in the head or being torn apart by wolves which would you choose?
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Ask yourself the same question as a species. Would you prefer the sick, injured or feeble members of the group to be picked off by predators or would you prefer the strongest stag, protector of your group's strength (such as it is) to get a bullet in the head? Followed by does of prime breeding age?

Don't get me wrong. Absent apex predators, hunting is needed. Specifically, Good hunters are needed. Not trophy bagging lamp-wielding ATV- driving morons.
 
MOB said:
Don't get me wrong. Absent apex predators, hunting is needed. Specifically, Good hunters are needed. Not trophy bagging lamp-wielding ATV- driving morons.
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Absolutely; culling rather than trophy hunting.
 
Purple said:
Absolutely; culling rather than trophy hunting.
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Unfortunately culling can be quite indiscriminate (often for cost reasons). There is no pool of culling labour that does not originate in the pool of hunters.
Whether we call it culling or hunting we need more of it and more discernment in execution.
 
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