A park manager has said the increase in deer numbers \u201cisn\u2019t as accurate as what is portrayed\u201d and that culling has been at it highest level in recent years.<\/p>\n
Councillors at a recent Killarney Municipal District described deer numbers as \u201cabsolutely off the Richter scale\u201d and that they were \u201cnearly as numerous as the cars\u201d on one particular stretch of road.<\/p>\n
They highlighted the numbers as a road safety issue, citing numerous reports of near road misses with the animal.<\/p>\n
Eamonn Meskell, Divisional Manager NPWS, Killarney National Park, acknowledged there were \u201ca lot of deer\u201d but said \u201cthe explosion of population isn\u2019t as accurate as what is portrayed\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t done a total population number for the park; it would add no value\u2026numbers are estimated from our own experience of being in the park and areas where we know the deer are in large numbers. Resources are better devoted to culling than counting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou probably have in the region of 700 to 800 deer in Killarney National Park through 27,000 acres\u2026so that is where we\u2019re at and that\u2019s where we\u2019re trying to control the numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Measurements that contribute to this estimation include faecal pellet analysis, levels of damage to valuable habitats and walking population surveys.<\/p>\n
Mr Meskell highlighted the difficulties of achieving an accurate count, citing an elaborate mountain survey conducted in 2024. Park rangers walked in 11 roughly parallel lines across the mountainside below the Devil\u2019s Punchbowl, counting animals sighted on their left.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou might walk through an area one day and see two sika deer and then walk through the same area the next day and see 75 sika deer,\u201d said Mr Meskell.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s also very hard to get hard evidence of deer in 27,000 acres with such varied habitats as we have. You\u2019re talking about the mountain, which is very difficult to walk in places\u2026and all the areas in between \u2013 the peatland, wet peat and dry peat, the boglands, the woodlands, the grasslands and the whole lake edge.\u201d<\/p>\n
A total of 392 deer were culled in Killarney National Park during 2025, representing a 37 per cent increase on the previous year.<\/p>\n
The cull included 276 non-native Sika deer and 116 native Killarney Red Deer, of which Mr Meskell said there are similar overall numbers.<\/p>\n
Sika deer were introduced to Ireland from Japan during the 1860s but escaped captivity in County Wicklow to roam wild.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year and last year were two of the most heavily culled years we\u2019ve had,\u201d said Mr Meskell.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say we have them in check, but we are taking a large number of the population out the system.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was an increase during the Covid years because there was no culling. Those two years really bumped up the population.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kerry County Council is currently rolling out a deer control system alongside a driver alert scheme, to help prevent car accidents.<\/p>\n
The pilot, however, has come under criticism by some councillors who have labelled it \u201cridiculous\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s going to be fatalities,\u201d said Council Brendan Cronin at a recent Kerry County Council meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese lads are multiplying. They\u2019re everywhere and there\u2019s no restriction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting scheme<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A park manager has said the increase in deer numbers \u201cisn\u2019t as accurate as what is portrayed\u201d and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[12971,61,60,82,263],"class_list":["post-307026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-alastair-tibbs","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307026","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=307026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}