A video showing deer presenting a real and present danger to motorists at Ardralla, outside of Skibbereen, has been shared with The Southern Star.<\/p>\n
Last week John McNamara warned that deer crossing at speed at dusk could result in an accident that would damage a vehicle, or worse, the driver. He said a deer had caused \u20ac4,000 worth of damage to a vehicle a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n
The man who took the video saw the article in last week\u2019s Southern Star and shared it with a licensed hunter as proof of the danger that the herd presents.<\/p>\n
The footage shows how two motorists unsuspectingly take the dangerous corner at New Court only to be confronted by the deer in the middle of the road.<\/p>\n
It shows a deer that was in the lead attempting to leap onto and over a stone wall, but coming back onto the road, which caused the others to move into the line of oncoming traffic.<\/p>\n
Dan McCarthy, who has been given a special Section 42 hunting licence by the National Parks and Wildlife Service to cull deer, spoke to The Southern Star about the need to manage the herd number.<\/p>\n
As well as being a licensed member of a gun club, Dan is a trained hunter with more than 40 years of experience, and is fully licensed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.<\/p>\n
Dan said it is his understanding that a few deer were released into the bog at Ardralla about 30 years ago, but today there could be as many as 35 in the herd.<\/p>\n
\u2018There is no doubt about the danger they present,\u2019 he said, \u2018especially from September 1st to the end of November, which is the rutting season.<\/p>\n
\u2018Stags move from one place to another, covering great distances for the purpose of breeding, so it is the most dangerous time of the year.<\/p>\n
\u2018There is nothing in their head but breeding and this presents a danger because they are haywire.<\/p>\n
\u2018They are operating without any other instinct and will cross a road without being aware of cars, or any other kind of danger.<\/p>\n
\u2018They are even a danger to inexperienced hunters, or people walking the mountains, because they could attack you like a bull. They have been known to treat people as a potential threat to breeding, or their herd.\u2019<\/p>\n
Dan explained how it is of the utmost importance to only licence the most experienced of hunters and, in this regard, he said: \u2018We do a lot of surveying because it is not our intention to wipe out a herd, or the species. No one wants that. This is about control.\u2019<\/p>\n
Aside from road traffic issues, Dan said deer can cause intensive damage to silage fields, and fencing, and leave fields unprotected in terms of animal husbandry.<\/p>\n
\u2018They damage young forestry trees too, which can represent a significant loss to Coillte, and private plantation owners who are looking to restore Ash and Oak long-term,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n
\u2018I have had long debates with people who are anti-deer hunting, but it is possible, over time, to get them to understand that we are not about killing animals, but keeping them to a manageable level,\u2019 he said. \u2018We are more conservationists than killers.\u2019<\/p>\n
WATCH HERE:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A video showing deer presenting a real and present danger to motorists at Ardralla, outside of Skibbereen, has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[61,60,82,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-161330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}