Road fatality fears as wild deer run amok in county
WILD DEER bounding through County Wexford are causing accidents and posing risks to cattle and need to be killed.
This was the view of some councillors at the meeting, during a discussion of a motion by Cllr Frank Staples who called on his fellow councillors to lobby the Department of the Environment and the Department of Agriculture to reduce the numbers of wild deer in the county because of the effect they can have on TB on farms and because they could lead to a fatality on our roads.
Cllr Staples said two days before the meeting a young mother was driving in a car with her two children when a deer hit the vehicle in the Wexford town district.
‘It went up on the bonnet and hit the windscreen. Luckily none of the occupants of the vehicle were injured and it didn’t go through the windscreen. There was also an incident on the Rosslare road. It’s a huge problem.’
Cllr Staples said he spoke to County Wexford IFA Chairman Pat Murray about the issue and Mr Murray said the number of deer in the county at present is a major concern to farmers.
Chairman Cllr Paddy Kavanagh said: ‘Some of the smart alecks are saying the deer are entering the county by train coming down from Wicklow.’
Cllr Oisin O’Connell said the wild deer population needs to be culled even from an animal welfare point of view.
Cllr Staples said there are around 150,000 deer in the country, adding that one fifth need to be culled.
Cllr Pip Breen said Wicklow people are aware of the threat that wild deer pose, but it’s a new problem in County Wexford.
‘It’s not a council problem, it’s an agriculture and health and safety issue, so it may come under the council’s (remit). 30,000 is a vast number of animals to cull.’
Cllr Deirdre Wadding called for more consultation with Parks & Wildlife, adding: ‘I would find it very difficult to vote in favour of killing 30,000 animals a year.’
Cllr Robbie Ireton said up to 12 people are killed every year in Inverness in Scotland due to deer crossing the roads at certain times of the year.
He said badgers were blamed for TB in recent years and now deer are being blamed.
‘Perhaps it’s the cattle. An enormous amount of money was spent on the eradication of TB in Ireland. Instead of taking the lives of innocent animals for the purpose of keeping the factories going, there must be a better way.’
Cllr Fionntan O’Suilleabhain said he lives near the Wicklow border and people never complain about deer, before adding that his brother crashed into one once. ‘I think people like to see deer.’ Cllr Kavanagh said the motion wasn’t brought before Christmas ‘what with Rudolph and everything’.
Cllr John Hegarty said: ‘We’re not asking people to go out tomorrow morning and shoot them. We want to bring this to the attention of the departments.’
The motion was passed.