Residents dealing to deer in suburbia
A Lower Hutt man has become the first human casualty in the city’s battle with marauding deer.
Eastbourne resident Andrew Alcorn says his ankle is still sore after injuring it while chasing a deer through the bush behind his house – an injury that saw him take a trip to hospital.
The animal was caught in a fishing net strung through the undergrowth intended to catch deer that made their way onto his property. He had planned to shoot it.
He said the deer population in the East Harbour Regional Park – which backs onto suburban Eastbourne – had become bolder in the last few years. They were causing a nuisance by entering back yards, and were stripping and destroying native bush.
Alcorn is one of a number of residents who have started taking matters with the deer into their own hands. Electric fences, bells and nets are all means by which locals have been trying to keep the animals at bay.
One story doing the rounds talks of a deer being shot in a backyard from a kitchen window.
A Greater Wellington Region- al Council spokesman said people were within their rights to trap and shoot deer on their properties, but urged anyone planning on doing so to keep public safety in mind.
The spokesman said eradication was difficult due to the challenging country and proximity to urban boundaries.
Mahina Bay resident Alan Bagnall has also taken it upon himself to stop deer destroying the bush. Bagnall said a couple of deer had been caught pillaging over the years and had ended up in his freezer. He installed an electric fence behind his section to stop native plants being browsed.
Bagnall said deer had been present in the suburb for some time, recalling a neighbour installing an electric fence in the 1940s.