Deer association warned NPWS about Inisfallen herd

The country’s biggest wild deer association has said it had warned the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) about the condition of deer on Inisfallen Island in Lough Lein in Killarney, Co Kerry, in December 2014, “but with no follow up”.

There has been widespread shock locally after a number of sika were found to have starved to death last week; several others were so emaciated they had to be put down. The deer are a tourist attraction in Killarney.

The discovery was made by the Killarney National Park liaison committee, which says the whole ecology of the historic monastic island is destroyed. All trees are bark-stripped and the ground is completely bare in the scramble for fodder by the desperate animals.