Deer, dogs the ‘big two’ in pest feedback

Online feedback on each LLS Regional Pest Plan closes at 5pm on Friday. 

Government will not be releasing the final 11 plans for further consultation once they are completed and launched on July 1, meaning this is the last chance to have your say. 

Friday’s deadline comes on the back of 50 or so stakeholder and information meetings across the state, which focused on what the future of pest management could look like, and what the biggest problems in each region were.

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LLS business partner in biosecurity management Emily Kearns said farmers, landholders, conservationists and recreational hunters had accounted for “hundreds of submissions”. She said the contentious issue of wild deer had been one of the major talking points during the process, as well as how best to tackle wild dogs. 

“In the South East particularly, and the North Coast – it was all dogs and deer,” she said. 

“Obviously the deer issue is quite political. Technically it is a game animal but many regions are looking at managing it as a pest animal. 

“There is a bit of a change of mindset here though because we’re moving away from focusing on declared pest species.”

“But it is also not about isolating or excluding a certain type of management. It’s about integrated management tools for each region.”

Ms Kerans said she, like others, had heard speculation there would be clashes over the future management of deer, but said she hadn’t heard of any problems so far. 

Deer management has proved contentious in NSW for years with the recreational hunting lobby and farmer groups often at loggerheads over whether to preserve the animal as an economic resource for hunting, or to eradicate the animal due to its increasing impact on farm productivity and the environment.  

Each of the LLS 11 regions listed deer as an emerging or problem pest in their draft regional pest plans. Three LLS regions – South-East, Northern Tablelands, and the North West – pledged in their draft plan that they would push for a region-wide suspension of hunting protections that are currently afforded to certain local government areas where the animal is doing the most damage. 

Hunters assert that licensed shooters, if allowed to hunt in more areas of the state including National Parks, are best placed to control deer numbers. The lobby has previously argued against aerial culling and baiting, but has advocated for deer to be shot from ground vehicles.