{"id":505868,"date":"2026-06-18T10:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T10:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/505868\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T10:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T10:15:08","slug":"damage-done-expanding-deer-population-sparks-calls-for-culls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/505868\/","title":{"rendered":"Damage done: Expanding deer population sparks calls for culls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Young deer, born in May and June, now look pretty and photogenic and provide yet another indication of continuing growth in the deer population.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s totally understandable that road accidents involving deer should be a primary concern, but there\u2019s also a serious environmental issue involved here.<\/p>\n

Deer population expansion, in recent decades, has led to a situation where numbers may now exceed 200,000, according to Teagasc. Other estimates are much larger.<\/p>\n

Conditions are just right for deer to thrive and breed in the countryside. And, with no natural predators, their numbers keep growing.<\/p>\n

Nobody knows exactly how many deer we have. But everyone is aware they have spread all over the country, resulting in repeated calls for culls and a proper, national deer management policy.<\/p>\n

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB<\/a><\/p>\n

The result is overgrazing of the forest floor, the removal of food sources for other animals and of nesting sites for birds and small mammals.<\/p>\n

Deer also damage young trees, preventing them from maturing and thereby stalling the renewal of woodlands.<\/p>\n

Poor understanding<\/p>\n

A Teagasc report, a few years ago, noted that our understanding of deer population dynamics in terms of distribution and density are very incomplete.<\/p>\n

Alluding to the negative impacts of rising deer numbers, the report said the causes of this included the expansion of suitable woodland habitat and changes in agricultural practices.<\/p>\n

Areas of conservation value can be hard hit, especially when deer numbers exceed the carrying capacity of these habitats.<\/p>\n

Also, farmers complain about deer coming onto their land, breaking through fences, damaging crops and eating their grass.<\/p>\n

Killarney National Park has large herds of Red and Sika deer which roam widely, leading to constant calls for culls. Last year, almost 400 deer in the park were culled, a 37% increase on the previous year.<\/p>\n

Data released by the National Parks and Wildlife Service to the Irish Deer Commission shows that 78,000 deer were culled nationally during the year ending in February 2023, up 41%.<\/p>\n

Counties with the highest culls were: Wicklow, Cork, Waterford, Tipperary, Kerry, Galway and Clare.<\/p>\n

\" A deer peaking out through the undergrowth by Ross Castle in the National Park, Killarney, Co Kerry. Picture Dan Linehan<\/p>\n

In the absence of a national deer census, it\u2019s impossible to accurately say whether the population has decreased following culls. Farmers and others, however, claim numbers are shooting upwards.<\/p>\n

Culls alone will not solve the problem, but should be part of a comprehensive deer management plan.<\/p>\n

The Government has set up a broad-based Deer Management Strategy Group, including various state agencies, farmers and landowners.<\/p>\n

Fifteen ‘hotspots’ have been identified for action to reduce the deer population to sustainable levels \u2014 all areas where the impact of deer is felt most.<\/p>\n

Coordinators have been appointed to link up with farmers, hunters and other stakeholders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Young deer, born in May and June, now look pretty and photogenic and provide yet another indication of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[31873,2386,1153,61,60,82,263],"class_list":["post-505868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-donal-hickey","tag-outdoors","tag-sustainability","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505868","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=505868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}