Snipers earn €17k to kill 118 deer in Phoenix Park, including fawns only months old

Deer that die from natural causes, road traffic accidents or are 'humanely dispatched' in the Phoenix Park are now placed in a blue bin for collection by animal rendering contractors. File photo: Brian Lawless/PA

The Office of Public Works (OPW) has paid snipers more than €17,000 to kill 118 deer in the Phoenix Park since the beginning of last year – some of which were fawns less than one year old.

Each of the 118 carcasses was subsequently sold to a meat wholesaler for prices ranging from €11 to €82 per deer, depending on its condition and weight.

Four culls took place at the park last year, resulting in 93 wild deer being fatally shot. A large majority of these were female, and some were just months old, according to records released by the OPW. Another 25 deer were killed during a cull last March.

UCD report

In October 2023, a report compiled by University College Dublin (UCD) found that the way deer were being targeted for culls by the OPW up to 2018 was “not a recommended approach”.

It identified a tendency to prioritise untagged deer during culling operations, which it said did not allow for accurate monitoring operations due to the inaccuracy of age estimates in individuals without tags.

The report recommended that “at least 65 individuals” should be targeted during each culling season in order to keep the deer population in the Phoenix Park “stable and sustainable”.

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Records released under the Freedom of Information Act also show that dead deer are no longer being buried in the park after this practice was exposed last year, giving rise to concerns over contamination of groundwater from a mass grave near a residential area.

Deer that die from natural causes, road traffic accidents or are “humanely dispatched” in the Phoenix Park are now placed in a blue bin for collection by animal rendering contractors.

Last year, the disposal of deer carcasses in this manner cost the OPW a total of €1,554 excluding VAT. Snipers hired to carry out the culling operations since the beginning of 2024 were paid a total of €17,405 excluding VAT, which included a bill for veterinary services.

OPW response

A spokeswoman for the OPW said the deer herd in the Phoenix Park is managed in line with advice from the Department of Agriculture and experts based at UCD, with regard to international best practice.

“Each deer cull is carried out with respect to the natural age and sex structure of the wild herd. Consideration must also be given to natural mortality in the herd, and the differing life spans of male and female deer,” she explained.

In order to maintain a healthy structure within the herd, the OPW must remove a number of animals from each age class and not just older animals. 

The spokeswoman said a total of 72 deer had been killed during the 2024/25 culling season, which is around 11 percent higher than the minimum figure of 65 recommended in the UCD report.

“As the herd is now considered to be at sustainable levels, deer are now culled at random where the culling plan follows a rigorous age and sex composition which mimics the natural population structure,” she added.

“In so doing, the culling activities do not interfere with the population structure but rather contain population growth which otherwise would lead to unsustainable levels like in the 1990s.”