A Kerry county councillor is calling on the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to commence a deer cull following a spate of road accidents.
Independent councillor Johnny Healy-Rae brought a motion before a meeting of the local authority this week where he asked the council to write to the NPWS about “the complete lack of control on deer on our roads”.
The councillor said the animals are now causing road accidents “on a daily basis” and “no one is taking responsibility”.
Deer
The councillor told Agriland that there has been “a lot of accidents” in Kerry, often occurring at the same locations, as a result of deer coming onto the roads.
“We’ve even had cases where our county coroner has pointed to the belief that a deer was the cause of fatal accidents unfortunately, in some cases,” he said.
The annual rutting or mating season for deer is currently underway which means that the animals are more active and visible.
Healy-Rae was informed by a local person that seven deer were recently hit by cars over the course of eight or nine days on the R569 road, which links Killarney to Kenmare via Kilgarvan.
“Two cars, I think were completely destroyed, or very close and the other ones were seriously damaged. Insurance doesn’t cover them for those types of accidents,” he said.
“The National Parks and Wildlife Service [has] no cover or [has] no answer to that,” he said.
“We’ve 27,000ac of a national park and while the deer have a place and they’re very welcome in a certain amount, we do feel in Co. Kerry that we’re completely overrun by deer with the last number of years and they have gone out of control altogether,” he said.
The councillor said that deer cause damage to farmers’ property, including fences and have a role in the spread of tuberculosis (TB).
“It’s not very prudent to let them go out of control altogether, which seems to be the case now,” he added.
“What I was looking for was that we as a council body would write to the National Parks and Wildlife Service to commence a cull, the same as has been done in Wicklow, in Scotland and other countries where they have the same problem that we have,” Healy-Rae said.
In a social media post, the Irish Deer Commission said that gardaí in Killarney had no knowledge of the recent road incidents as referenced by Councillor Healy-Rae.
“It is crucial [that] comments regarding deer are factual and well founded,” the organisation said.
“Number one, I don’t tell lies as a rule. I pass the road myself three or four times every day. I guarantee you that if I drive it this minute there’s a deer alongside the road,” Healy Rae said.
“It was from a local man that I got that count and I don’t disbelieve him at all, because for that particular week-and-a-half the road seemed to be littered with deer.
“One particular morning myself I saw three of them dead along the same side of the road,” Healy-Rae said.
“Anyone here locally doesn’t contact the guards any longer because insurance doesn’t come into play and the National Parks and Wildlife Service [is] saying they do not have a role when deer cause accidents on the road,” the councillor added.
“Contacting the guards is completely futile because there is nothing that they can do in this instance.
“From a farmer’s point of view, if you have cattle or if you have livestock you have to have insurance. If they unfortunately go on the road and cause an accident your insurance comes into play. There’s no one to answer here, which is disappointing,” he said.
Cull
The councillor said he appreciates that the Deer Commission has a job to do and he admires “some of what they do”.
“But I am seriously calling on them to look at the numbers that we have because everyone knows that it’s gone out of control. To say that they’re disbelieving, that there’s accidents or something is only nonsense,” Healy-Rae said.
Along with the NPWS, Kerry County Council also agreed to write to Minister for the Environment, Eamon Ryan and Minister for Heritag,e Malcolm Noonan about the issue.
Eamon Ryan previously said that he was concerned that the deer population was impacting on biodiversity.
“I don’t mind what excuse he uses for the cull once he carries out the cull,” Healy-Rae said.