NATURE: Our red deer are not the problem

January and the new year will find us immersed in a war, a war for land, for resources, for capital.
This particular war is one against the wild creatures we live alongside, and specifically against our deer population. But why?
It is true that where deer numbers are high, overall biodiversity suffers. Deer are browsing animals that eat as they go. Yes, they like grass and will fill their bellies with farmers’ hard-won crops if they get the chance to do so.
But they also eat almost every other green thing they come across. Where hunting pressure keeps these animals under cover of trees for much of the time, the herb layer of woodland has been all but destroyed. There are places I like to go that deer have eaten just about everything within reach.
Consequently, woodland regeneration is at a standstill. Any tree seeds that germinate are nibbled away the moment they throw up the least bit of green. Wild flowers are likewise eaten out of existence. Without a source of nectar and pollen, valuable insect species are lost from the same areas. Bird populations then become limited. The only thing that thrives is the ever-expanding herd of deer, until they too fall victim of their own success and are viewed with the colder eye normally reserved for rats and other vermin.
Such scenarios are more associated with non-native species such as fallow deer, which were introduced by the Normans in the Middle Ages, and Japanese sika deer, which arrived here about the middle of the 19th century. Our own native red deer rarely reach plague numbers.
Another weapon wielded by proponents of the imminent war on deer is the prospect of TB being spread from farm to farm as deer move about their territory.
This is faulty reasoning, and would appear to be an attempt to further demonise deer in the minds of those privileged to host them.
Not long ago, Ireland’s own TB Scientific Working Group produced a report that addressed this pertinent question: ‘What is the proportional contribution of cattle-to-cattle, badger-to-cattle, and deer-to-cattle TB transmission to bovine TB in Ireland?’. 
This report acknowledged that “In Ireland, data are sparse, and the epidemiological role played by wild deer (predominantly Sika (Cervus nippon) or Sika hybrids) is not certain.”
Further, the authors of that same report tell us that, “Apart from Co Wicklow, there is currently no evidence to support deer acting as a maintenance host for TB, i.e. a host in which the infection is self-sustaining.”
It appears that sika deer are more vulnerable to bovine tuberculosis than are red or fallow deer. But whose fault is it that we have sika here in the first place?
Cattle-to-cattle transmission of bovine TB is by far the most efficient pathway for infection. Cattle-to-deer infection (as well as cattle-to-badger) is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. Perhaps if we kill off all our deer (and all our badgers) there will be nothing for infected cattle to pass their disease on to, apart from their own kind.
One part solution is to stop the importation of non-native species. It is evident that bringing sika deer, that are rightly at home on the far side of the globe, into the country and setting them free was a clumsy and ill-considered act.
By all means, we could do something to restrict the spread and potential impact of these animals.
But when it comes to our native red deer, it would be a great shame to see their presently small numbers decimated in this nationwide cull. The sense of excitement and wonder expressed by young ones at seeing wild deer ought not be discounted.
A friend posed this question: What arrangements have been made to deal with the huge influx of venison onto the market once the cull is fully underway?
According to Wild Deer Ireland’s Facebook page, “Ireland is one of the main exporters of wild venison to the UK, it is known some game dealers export venison shot out of season. Also illegally shot and unhygienic carcasses are exported to the UK putting the consumer and the reputation of Irish wild venison at risk.‘’
Once again, nothing is straightforward. We live at a time of unprecedented, existential crisis, with the natural world on which we completely depend besieged and beleaguered from every corner. Can we find no other solution than wholesale slaughter?
When it comes to war, anything goes. This is a sad moment.