Landowners call for deer cull in south Mayo

Landowners call for deer cull in south Mayo


Anton McNulty

A CALL has been made for the culling of wild deer in the Tourmakeady and Partry areas of Mayo after they were accused of destroying farmlands and wreaking havoc in the area.
Farmers and landowners have called for the cull in the south Mayo area after they claimed the population of deer in the area has risen to an all time high and the numbers being culled had not kept pace with the increase. They have warned that they are wreaking havoc in many areas, destroying woodland, crops, even gardens and also causing a danger to motorists on the roads.
Despite more than 20,000 deer being legally hunted each year, experts believe there could be five times as many around the country. Deer numbers have soared thanks to a series of mild winters, tree-planting schemes and an absence of natural predators. Farmers are also concerned that a rise recently in the number of cases of bovine tuberculosis in the area may have been caused by the increase in numbers of wild deer.
They also see the animals as a potential danger to people if they come near their homes, with one case this year where a hill walker was left gored and pinned to the ground by a wild red stag in Armagh.
John Hession, a farmer from Partry said that the current cull was not enough and if something was not done about the situation it would cause further hardship for farmers. There are incidents of deers jumping fences into fields and eating grass and as a result John explained that it was having a huge economic effect on his farm forcing him to source fodder and grazing lands outside the area due to the damage caused by the wild deer.
He added that this measure to cull might be distasteful to some, but said the livelihood of farmers is at stake.
“The current numbers being culled are not enough. We need to be culling much higher numbers. Farmers are calling for a cull of the deer - either by hunters or conservation officers and are asking the IFA to get involved. There is a significant number of farm lands that are in an unsatisfactory condition because of deer impacts.
“It is in those areas where we are working with landowners to get the habit back into a better condition. Almost inevitably, that means culling more deer, because people haven’t traditionally been culling enough. We’re not trying to eliminate any herds of wildlife. What we’re trying to do is humanely cull a herd and find a solution that will leave farmers and wild life activists satisfied,” he said.