27 sika deer culled in Killarney after others starved to death

A number of emaciated sika deer on Inisfallen, the monastic island in the heart of the Killarney National Park, have been culled after some deer were found to have starved to death.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) confirmed that 27 deer were shot by rangers on the 21-acre island, after the discovery of four dead sika. Around 20 remain. It has said balancing the needs of deer and ecology is challenging.

The ruins on Inisfallen of the monastery founded in the 6th century by St Finan the Leper are among the most important in the region. The island is where Brian Boru studied, and its annals, a chronicle of the south-west, composed in the 11th century, are in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.