Ticks on wild deer could carry public health risk

Wild deer may be a tourist attraction in Kerry but they also carry a potential public health risk.

The Killarney area’s large Red and Sika deer populations of up to 1,500 could harbour a disease-carrying tick.

Lyme disease, warned Kerry-based Labour senator Marie Moloney, is very contractible. She raised the issue in the Seanad and said the high rate of the disease often went undetected, especially in Killarney.