Deer must be culled by 50 per cent
According to a new study, around half of the UK's expanding deer population must be shot each year to protect the countryside.
Estimates suggest the deer population is at its highest since the Ice Age, and numbers are continuing to rise in the absence of natural predators. Researchers say this poses a threat to biodiversity, as well as causing road traffic accidents and crop damage.
"There is evidence that deer reduce the number of woodland birds - especially some of our much loved migrant birds species like Blackcap and Nightingale, and resident species like Willow Tit. We have a problem," said Dr Paul Dolman, ecologist at the University of East Anglia and lead author of the study.
The study, which has been published in the Journal of Wildlife Management, involved a census of roe and muntjac deer populations across 234 sq km across woods and heath land in Breckland, East Anglia. Researchers travelled more than 1,140 miles at night using thermal imaging cameras to spot the deer.
Researchers say that while deer numbers in the area appear stable, this is only because thousands of the animals are being pushed out into the surrounding countryside each year.
They suggest that existing management methods are failing, and only by culling 50 to 60 per cent of deer every year can their numbers be controlled. With deer populations estimated at 1.5 million, this could equate to 750,000 deer being shot each year.
Researchers at the university have suggested harvesting the animals for meat. Dr Dolman said: "We are not killing something and then incinerating the carcass - what we are talking about is harvesting a wild animal to supply wild free-ranging venison for our tables."
The RSPCA has commented that it is "opposed in principle" to the concept of a cull unless there is "strong science" to support it, or evidence that no alternative exists. In a statement, the charity added that any cull should be carried out in a "humane and controlled way", and on a "case by case basis".
Whilst welcoming the research, the Deer Initiative (DI), noted that this was a single study carried out on only two species out of six. Director of the DI, Peter Watson, said the study "could not be extrapolated to the whole of the UK, therefore suggesting a cull of 750,000 was not valid."
RCVS Knowledge has called on vet practices to audit their post-operative neutering outcomes.
