Farmers front pollies on deer control – Shooters rubbish ‘mistruths’

WITH a decision on wild deer control looming in NSW, a delegation of farmers, community leaders and pest experts has fronted Macquarie Street urging government to remove the animal’s game protection status and make it easier for landholders to cull the animal to protect their enterprises.

Lord mayor of Wollongong, Gordon Bradbery, joined the delegation of South Coast farmers and Invasive Species Council chief executive Andrew Cox at NSW Parliament yesterday, where Greens, Labor, Liberal, and Animal Justice MPs - as well as staff representing the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party - were briefed on the rapid spread of wild deer throughout NSW, the damage the animal has done to producers’ bottom line and the environment, and the threat posed to motorists in regions around Wollongong.

Mr Cox said the wild deer population now covers 13 per cent of the state – a 62 per cent increase in the past six years - with the game status preventing people from hunting them if they don’t have a game licence, and removing the onus on all landholders to actively manage the animal across a district. 

He says recreational hunting alone is not working in preventing deer from spreading, and wants a containment plan focusing on stopping the spread of deer into new areas, the removal of small isolated populations, and setting a target to reduce numbers in areas suffering environmental and property damage.

The delegation argued there was a need for better research into control methods and a more coordinated approach that could include, among other things, recreational hunting.

But the Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers Party has fought against any changes to the law and has questioned the legitimacy of submissions to the Natural Resources Commission’s 2016 Pest Animal Management Review, and the politics of the Invasive Species Council.

In parliament yesterday Shooters MP Robert Brown called the delegation a “last-ditch, vain” stunt organised by Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham that presented “a distorted view of the truth and so-called public opinion”.

Mr Brown said statistics reporting only 879 deer were killed in 2015 were severely and deliberately underestimated. 

The party says recreational hunting is a valuable economic resource for the state and has pushed for National Parks to be opened to licensed hunters to help control the animal. 

Mr Buckingham told the Illawarra Mercury government had been “dragging the chain on declaring deer a pest for many years because of political pressure from the Shooters and Fishers Party, who want them to remain a protected hunting resource”.

On Wednesday Mr Buckingham tabled a notice of motion calling for deer to be declared a pest.

Some landholders, including Ted Rowley, Jindabyne, have reported a $35,000 - and rising - annual cost to their enterprise as a result of deer eating pastures and damaging infrastructure.

Mr Rowley said deer are costing him 30 breeding cattle each year. He was pictured in The Land this week selling Angus steers at Cooma for $1160 per head.

“And I’m only small compared to some of my neighbours – you can multiply the cost to some of the larger producers by ten,” Mr Rowley said. 

Then there’s the time and resources being spent trying to control the animal - with Mr Rowley reporting he shoots deer for two-to-three hours as many nights as he can, culling 400 by himself on his property alone last year.

Clare McMahon, a beef farmer on 120 hectares at Kiah, south of Eden, said she is being set back $25,000 each year due to deer eating pastures, meaning her weaners are being turned off months earlier 30 to 50 kilograms lighter. 

She said suspending game regulations for all deer species on her property had proved a slow and cumbersome process that required frequent harvest reports and a new submission every year. 

Illawarra botanist and Landcare project officer Richard Scarborough said ‘doing nothing’ on deer was in itself a form of action. 

“Namely that inaction is a decision to let things continue the way they are, and put this species above other native species and habitats.”

The delegation - which also met with with Department of Premier and Cabinet and staff representing Primary Industry Minister Niall Blair - wants government to remove deer from the Game and Feral Animal Control Act, removing its protected status and freeing up landholders to control deer.

It also wants the animal to be declared a pest to encourage greater control, and for government to develop and fund LLS-led regional plans for deer control, and to designate areas for local eradication.

The delegation said it did not want to stop to hunting in NSW - and argued that removing game status would allow more recreational hunters to shoot deer.

Mr Cox said state government was “holding its cards close” on how it would respond to recommendations in the Natural Resources Commission’s 2016 Pest Animal Management Review, which included for deer to be named a pest animal.

Mr Cox and other parliamentary sources say they believe an announcement will be made in the coming weeks.

A spokeswoman for Mr Blair said “the management of wild deer is currently being considered in response to the Natural Resource Commission’s review of pest animal management in NSW.

“However, the minister understands how contentious the issue of feral deer management is and will ensure that the views of all key stakeholders are taken into account when considering the Government’s response.”