{"id":322085,"date":"2025-12-02T05:27:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T05:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/322085\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T05:27:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T05:27:21","slug":"monarch-of-the-glen-at-risk-from-non-native-sika-deer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/322085\/","title":{"rendered":"Monarch of the glen at risk from non-native sika deer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scotland\u2019s monarch of the glen is in danger of being usurped by an invasive deer species. The sika deer, which is native to eastern Russia and east Asia, has a worse effect on woodland, breeds faster, and is harder to cull than the Scottish red.<\/p>\n

The SNP\u2019s nature bill, which is being debated in Holyrood, proposes more control of Scotland\u2019s record deer population, but a new paper says that indiscriminate culls will hasten the sika\u2019s takeover.<\/p>\n

Scotland\u2019s deer population is at an all-time high of almost one million, and has likely doubled in the last 35 years. According to a new paper by the environmental body Highlands Rewilding and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, the sika deer\u2019s natural advantages mean it benefits from untargeted culls. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

It takes about four times as long to cull a sika as a red deer because they are so vigilant and can crawl through gaps as low as 25cm. The tougher sika can tolerate the cold and wet Highland weather, and even if a quarter of their population were culled each year, they would breed enough to maintain their numbers.<\/p>\n

On top of this, the native red and roe deer get nervous when the sika whistle during the mating season, putting them off their game.<\/p>\n

Calum Brown, a scientist at Highlands Rewilding and a senior researcher at the Karlsruhe Institute, said: \u201cWe are deeply concerned that by managing all deer populations in the same way, we might inadvertently help the invasive non-native sika deer to outcompete our iconic native deer species: red and roe deer. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the problem of deer overpopulation in Scotland<\/a> is widely recognised, we don\u2019t want to see sika crowned the new \u2018Monarch of the Glen\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Edwin Landseer\u2019s painting The Monarch of the Glen (1851) put the red deer at the heart of Scotland\u2019s landscape<\/p>\n

MALCOLM PARK\/ALAMY LIVE NEWS.<\/p>\n

The SNP\u2019s Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill<\/a> intends to set legally binding duties on ministers to improve and regenerate nature, not just protect it.<\/p>\n

Studies have found that the UK is one of the world\u2019s most nature-depleted countries, and that nearly one in nine species in Scotland are at risk of national extinction. But this new research paper by a team of ecologists, deer hunters and foresters suggests the national debate is ignoring the risk to native deer if they do not make a strategic cull. <\/p>\n

\"Illustration<\/p>\n

How sika deer outcompete Scotland\u2019s native red deer<\/p>\n

HIGHLANDS REWILDING<\/p>\n

Brown said: \u201cIncreased deer management and culling which doesn\u2019t account for sika\u2019s advantages is likely to reinforce these advantages. We could see sika and hybrids becoming the dominant species in areas where they are present.\u201d <\/p>\n

When the rural affairs and islands committee met with deer practitioners from across Scotland in May, the sika population was \u201calmost out of control\u201d and the national data and response was lacking. Overgrazing by dense herds strips the landscape of young trees and reduces biodiversity, meaning culls are of increasing importance. <\/p>\n

The Association of Deer Management Groups (ADMG) said in July that 138,534 deer were culled in 2023-24, the highest on record. It has voiced concerns that the bill will put pressure on employment in the deer management sector due to the costs of higher numbers of culls.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The government said it was working with Nature Scotland to increase the annual culling of sika deer<\/p>\n

HIGHLANDS REWILDING<\/p>\n

The Scottish government said: \u201cManaging different species of deer across rural and urban Scotland requires a variety of approaches. In all circumstances, we want to ensure deer management in Scotland is sustainable and brings benefits to rural communities and nature. That\u2019s why we are supporting four deer-management pilot projects this year, trialling a mixture of financial incentives and support for venison.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese include two projects led by Nature Scotland to increase the annual culling of non-native sika deer in native woodlands<\/a> and commercial forestry. We will work closely with partners as these schemes progress and use findings to inform future deer management policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cNatureScot is in the process of developing a sika deer-management strategy, which will address the concerns around sika populations in Scotland. This will be published in due course.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scotland\u2019s monarch of the glen is in danger of being usurped by an invasive deer species. The sika…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-322085","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}