A DEER cull on Innisfallen Island commenced this Wednesday morning following shock revelations that the animals were starving to death on the historic monastic site.
The matter was brought to public attention by Killarney councillor John Joe Culloty who said he was absolutely shocked by the gruesome sight he discovered on a visit this week to the popular tourist attraction.
He found four dead and rotting Sika deer at various locations on the island with other starving, emaciated animals wandering around with no fodder in sight. Judging by the condition and smell of the dead deer, it appeared that they had been there for a number of weeks, he concluded.
Cllr Culloty noticed that all the bark had been stripped off trees by the deer in their desperate hunt for fodder and trees are at risk of dying with the whole ecology of the history-steeped island at immediate risk.
“Every tree that can be bark-stripped is bark-stripped because the animals are starving. The ground is as bare as it could possibly be,” he said.
“They are starving and it’s a sad state of affairs that we have come to this,” Cllr Culloty stated.
The Killarney councillor estimated that there are between 30 and 40 deer, not in good health, still on the island and, for their own sake, they need to be culled as it is the most humane thing to do.
“I’m not an expert on this but, unfortunately, the experts don’t seem to be doing what they should be doing,” he complained.
Cllr Culloty said the situation with deer management in Killarney National Park has been left to get out of control over the past 10 years and there is a need for a proper management plan and more park rangers to be employed.
For some reason, probably the fact that they were too weak, the island deer didn’t swim to shore in search of food – as they previously would have done – but questions have been raised as to why nothing was done to help them or if the authorities were even aware of the plight of the deer left on the island
Cllr Culloty, who has officially complained that the deer herd in Killarney National Park is being mismanaged, contacted senior National Parks and Wildlife Service officials and demanded that urgent action be taken and, as a result, a cull commenced this Wednesday.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service said the island is visited regularly and inspected by expert ecologists. A comprehensive deer population survey was conducted in 2016 and a cull is already underway.
A spokesperson said there is a significant challenge balancing the issues of conservation with forestry and argiculture and the need to manage deer populations in a responsible and ethical manner.
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