The bloodthirsty deer poachers tearing the heart out of Exmoor
NOT since the court of Henry VIII, perhaps, has the rich, gamey flesh of venison been as popular with diners as it is now, for both its taste and its healthy properties. But such is the fashion for the meat that the very existence of England’s largest population of red deer is under threat from gangs of armed poachers determined to cash in on rising demand.
Poachers are travelling to Exmoor National Park in increasing numbers, armed with rifles and powerful lamps to stun the animals in the darkness.
Police in the West Country have had to put armed officers on standby to provide back-up for officers attempting to stop what has been described as “organised slaughter” by criminals.
There are even reports of deer being chased off the moors at night and butchered in the streets of the nearby Somerset town of Minehead by poachers. Last week, early-morning dog walkers were confronted with the remains of a butchered deer in the town’s Beacon Road, a residential street close to St Michael’s Church.
Jane Bates, a Minehead resident, posted a message on social media to warn others. “This is awful and I don’t feel safe walking there any more if there are people walking around with guns,” she said.
A spokesman for the National Wildlife Crime Unit said the influx of organised gangs was transforming poaching from a cottage criminal activity into an industrial scale operation.
With sales of venison up by more than 400 per cent in 2016 from the previous year, the lone poacher has been pushed aside by criminal gangs. The meat from one carcass is worth around £200 and a large set of antlers alone can fetch £500, fuelling the trade in poached venison. Although red deer are hunted legally on Exmoor to control numbers, the Devon and Somerset Staghounds kill only about 250 a year.
While it is illegal to shoot deer at night, prosecutions for poaching are rare. Within the national park’s 267 square miles there are vast tracts of deep valleys, dense forest, the highest sea cliffs in mainland Britain and wide, desolate moors – where criminals are almost impossible to find in the dark.
Richard Eales, one of the national park’s rangers who sits on a new Exmoor Rural Crime Initiative board, pledged that the authorities would not surrender in the face of the poachers’ increasingly violent tactics. “As the criminals get more organised, so are we. We will eventually crack poaching,” he said.
“Killing deer is not a victimless crime, there are firearms offences, threats to landowners and farmers, trespass, and illegal and possibly unsafe meat.”
Police have launched a dedicated text number for tip-offs about suspicious sightings and a new mobile phone app called Project Poacher, as well as putting up posters. Sgt Andy Whysall, of Avon and Somerset Constabulary, said: “This is organised crime, and it will be met with a higher degree of organisation and cross-border initiatives from us. We will wipe this poaching out.” Miriam Brown, the force’s spokesman for rural
‘There are parts of the moor where I could once find maybe 100 deer together, today it’s 50. They are going’
crime, added: “In those cases where police are acting on intelligence, they will have armed back-up.”
An estimated 2,500 deer are thought to live on the moor, down from around 3,700 five years ago. But there is no official record of the population or their disappearance. Local farmers and wildlife experts fear the red deer, the largest wild animals in the UK, could be wiped out.
Johnny Kingdom, a wildlife TV documentary maker, said: “There are certain parts of the moor where I could once find 100 deer together, today it’s maybe 50. They are going, they are disappearing.
“If the police are armed, it might help deter these poachers. What is Exmoor without its wild deer?”
But Exmoor veterinary surgeon Peter Green said consumers should also start to take more responsibility for the venison they eat: “Every diner eating a venison meal should ask the pub landlord or restaurant owner where the meat has come from,” he said.