![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0023ae22-614.jpg\"\/)
\nThe NPWS said it acknowledges there was an increase in deer numbers<\/p>\n
Just under 400 deer have been culled in Killarney National Park in 2025, according to figures from the National Parks and Wildlife Service.<\/p>\n
The majority of wild deer culled in the 10,000-hectare park in Co Kerry were non-native sika deer.<\/p>\n
The figures show that 116 native Killarney red deer and 276 sika deer were culled this year.<\/p>\n
It is a rise of 37% from last year, when a total of 286 deer were culled.<\/p>\n
The culling mainly took place during the official hunting season and the focus was on culling female deer.<\/p>\n
However, local representatives have said wild deer in Killarney are found beyond the park and number in their thousands.<\/p>\n
Killarney councillor Brendan Cronin said road collisions with deer are now a regular occurrence.<\/p>\n
The independent councillor said he has highlighted the issue of increasing numbers of deer and road incidents on national roads near Killarney.<\/p>\n
He called for “fencing, restriction and responsibility to be taken by the NPWS”.<\/p>\n
\nThe NPWS said it acknowledges there was an increase in deer numbers<\/p>\n
“Deer are a huge road traffic issue now in Kerry and are jumping out onto the bonnets of cars. They are in every direction, miles outside the National Park,” Cllr Cronin said.<\/p>\n
“Unlike farm animals, no one is held responsible when there is a collision with these huge animals and there is no comeback.<\/p>\n
“This is totally wrong and needs to be addressed. The National Parks and Wildlife Service has to take responsibility for car accidents and damage,” he said.<\/p>\n
The NPWS said it acknowledges there was an increase in deer numbers during the Covid-19 pandemic when hunting was restricted.<\/p>\n
A spokesman said deer populations are mobile and have a home range that is not constrained by land ownership boundaries.<\/p>\n
The NPWS said a deer management strategy, set up under the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, aims to address issues of controlling the deer population.<\/p>\n
Under the strategy, managed by Farm Relief Services (FRS), deer management units with coordinators have been appointed across the country.<\/p>\n
The coordinators liaise between farmers and hunters to deal with problem areas.<\/p>\n
Farm Relief Services Deer Management Unit Coordinator for Kerry and Cork James Coffey said practically the whole of Kerry is a problem area for deer and the aim is to bring landowners together to deal with the issue.<\/p>\n
He urged landowners to reach out to the FRS and to seek assistance.<\/p>\n
Mr Coffey said the strategy is aimed to be proactive rather than reactive.<\/p>\n
“We are trying to manage the deer. Every area is different, ” Mr Coffey said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just under 400 deer have been culled in Killarney National Park in 2025, according to figures from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-216830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216830","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=216830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}