Ask A Broadsheet Reader

at

One of the 34 deer culled in the Phoenix Park this this afternoon. The Office of Public Works says it needs to keep numbers of the animals down to “lower the risk of disease and road accidents in the park”. The animals were sold to a game dealer “approved by the Department of Agriculture”.

Anyone?

Deer cull takes place in Phoenix Park (BreakingNews)

Sponsored Link

43 thoughts on “Ask A Broadsheet Reader

  1. Rep

    They have no predators other then us, hence the need to be culled. It is the same all over the country.

    The carcasses are given to the zoo so they don’t go to waste.

    1. Rob_G

      No, Colm’s plan of rounding up wild animals for live animal transport overseas is a much better idea…

    2. Sheik Yahbouti

      The article says they are sold to a game dealer “approved by the Department of Agriculture.

  2. Junkface

    I never knew that they did this. I suppose it is neccessary when you think about it. Lime disease is no joke, Deer ticks are stubborn things

  3. Eoineyo

    It would be much better if we could let the wolves, the tigers and Lions cull them themselves, I can’t see any negative for doing this, it will enrich the lives of the animals (not the deer obviously), the people on the tour buses would have something to see, we may even get a safari park out of it.
    Ok there might be a couple of issues and we might loose a couple of cyclists or joggers, but only the slow ones. Even that could be turned into a sport instead of ‘Running with the Bulls’ we could have ‘The Predator Run’ (it’s just a working title and I do realise that there maybe members of the Catholic Church might object given the obvious connections to predators and the park itself).
    I’m sure the Green Party or PBP would get behind this, although the latter might protest against it, if it does get the go ahead but Leo and Paul Murphy (the right wing one) might like it as it could be away to finally eliminate those people that disgust them.

  4. Pixie Hat

    They have been so tamed that they just walk up to be shot. That’s no way to manage a problem that only exists because management created it.

  5. Gabby

    They should cull wild deer in other parts of Ireland too. Farmers near forests where the critters are based are fed up with the animals encroaching on farmland and playing havoc with kitchen gardens by eating leaves of young trees, munching cabbage and other vegetables, and damaging fencing. Wild deer late at night in the early morning are dashing across roads and causing possible car accidents. Bring in the sharpshooting hunters every couple of years, I say, and keep deer numbers down.

    1. harry

      we’ve only had one around fur place for the first time lately and hugs lovely to see – maybe because we don’t have the kitchen garden anymore!
      A great year for wildlife, we’ve had otters, pine martens, deer

    2. small ads

      Yes, there are places in Wicklow, for example, where the deer are starved looking and desperate. They’ll eat anything, they’re so hungry.

  6. Nigel

    You can cull them, or let them strip their ecosystem and die of starvation and disease, or reintroduce wolves or, and just hear me out on this one, clone dinosaurs.

  7. SOQ

    What I often wondered is why you never seen the deer popping out to the shops fora pack of fags and a pint of milk given how open the park is. I mean what is stopping them from hitting the January sales like the rest of us?

  8. Spaghetti Hoop

    It’s a managed cull every year, under the strict guidance of the NPWS, and includes these non native Sika and the native Red in Killarney and Glenveagh. The meat, if disease-free, does enter the food chain and venison can be bought and eaten in season. Try the Wicklow-based butchers. In my view, Bord Bia should promote it more. The cull has been going on for thousands of years. There has also been re-distribution programmes to promote new herds in other national parks such as Connemara. Shipping deer livestock abroad is a ridiculously stupid idea. Exporting venison however, is a good one. Maybe to our nearest neighbours when their victory gardens succumb to frost.

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie