Calls for deer cull in Kerry growing amid increase in road collisions

Local councillors have claimed an accident is happening every day during the rutting season

A red stag in Killarney National Park. There are about 1,000 red deer in Kerry. Picture: Valerie O'Sullivan

There are growing calls for a deer cull in Kerry as red and sika deer continue to spread beyond the borders of the national park in Killarney.

While there are no new statistics on the number of collisions caused by deer, local councillors have claimed as many as one accident is happening every day during the rutting season.

In the Dáil, TD Danny Healy-Rae has asked for more licences to be issued to landowners and farmers in Kerry to help with a widescale cull. 

Changes on the deer hunting season are also likely following the Irish Deer Management Strategy Report, which was published in early December.

Deer in Kerry have spread far beyond their original base. A recent meeting of Kerry County Council heard how for the first time, they are being encountered now on the N69 in north Kerry.

Two species predominate in Kerry — the native red, Ireland’s largest mammal, alongside the Japanese sika, a species introduced into the big Killarney estates for hunting purposes in the 19th century.

Native red were brought from the edge of extinction just 50 years ago. Red deer now proliferate alongside sika and there are about 1,000 in the Killarney and as far west as Valentia Island areas, observers say.

Damage to forests, fields and road collisions with vehicles are the main concern in Kerry. The National Parks and Wildlife Service has resisted several calls, including from the late Kerry south coroner Terence Casey in 2016, to fence off the Killarney National Park alongside the N72 outside Killarney.

Fatal collisions

Mr Casey believed deer to be involved in a number of fatal collisions.

This Christmas is seeing a new drive to fence, this time new roadside forestry plantations. Killarney councillor John O’Donoghue said the numbers of deer have "exploded".

Around Glenflesk and Kilgarvan there have been very serious accidents on the roads.

He has asked the minister for agriculture to ensure all new forestry plantations going forward are fully deer-fenced.

"This is both to allow for growth by producing protection from marauding deer, but also to ensure the safety of nearby road users," Mr O'Donoghue said.

The council in Kerry is supporting his move, and is also seeking grant aid for farmers who are letting their lands into private forestry and forestry owners.

The Irish Deer Commission has raised concerns about the calls for a severe cull, insisting there is little scientific evidence to back up such calls. 

Currently, a record number of wild deer are being culled under licence in Ireland, with more than 55,000 deer culled annually by over 6,000 licensed deer hunters without cost to the taxpayers

The National Parks and Wildlife Service says it is carrying out culls in Killarney, including of sika deer.