Soaring deer numbers in Killarney sparks calls for NPWS to buy feed

Some 2,000 wild deer live in and around the 25,000 acre Killarney Park, it is estimated.

Soaring deer numbers in Killarney have led to calls on the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) to purchase winter feed for the highly protected animals so they remain within the park boundaries.

Some 2,000 wild deer live in and around the 25,000 acre Killarney Park, it is estimated.

The unique Killarney Red Deer are overwhelming farms and forests in a search for food outside the park, landowners say.

And with restrictions on recreational hunting because of the pandemic, and a global downturn in demand for venison, the smaller Japanese sika deer have reached levels never seen before.

There have been calls for more culls.

On a single day two weeks ago, 79 large red deer were found grazing on the Collins' family farm in Aghadoe, overlooking the lakes of Killarney. Two nearby farms have also erected fencing but it is no longer a deterrent for the hungry deer.

Damage has been worse than ever this year, according to local farmers, as fields readied for spring grass are completely cut up and the deer are depriving calves and cows of grassland.

Joan Collins said the problem has become acute during the past year.

"Every farmer has winter feed for animals. Why can't the NPWS?" Ms Collins asked.

The IFA and other farm organisations are being approached to support measures to protect farms in Killarney, she said.

Environmental damage

The deer are wreaking environmental damage on trees too, with deciduous trees in the Aghadoe area left with hanging branches and bark damage.

Deer are now occupying lands never occupied previously, she also said.

Forestry too is being destroyed by deer, according to locals.

The small Japanese deer are multiplying rapidly during the pandemic , according to locals in the Muckross area, at the southern edge of the park.

They are standing on the ditch here every morning and they would talk to you.

 "They are in no way frightened of humans or of traffic anymore. There are so many of them," one local said.

Wildlife rangers in Killarney say that while red deer are prioritised this year in culls, the Sika population would be addressed next year. Over 100 red deer have been taken this season.

In a statement the NPWS said culling of deer in the park was taking place. "The culling of the deer herd in Killarney National Park is/has taken place during the 2020-2021 season.

"Culling is a regular and on-going management operation within the National Park. The culling of deer is undertaken periodically when resources, weather and timing allows. 

"The department is working towards sustainable herd management, and as such there is and will continue to be, a need to remove a certain percentage of animals from the herd encompassing both age and gender on an ongoing basis."