FOLLOWING public outcry the Upper Hunter Shire Council (UHSC) have taken the first steps to approve a deer cull in the Murrurundi region, after a spate of incidents related to the pest.
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Despite Hunter Local Land Services removing just less than 2300 of them earlier this year, they have remained a problem for other wildlife and the environment.
Speaking to The Advocate, Director of Environmental and Community Services for UHSC, Matthew Pringle, confirmed the council was considering more a proactive action towards the problem.
“It’s an issue that’s been raised by the community, it’s been raised a number of times at council meetings so obviously there is an issue there that we need to look at,” he said.
“We’re going to go out and speak to the community to see what their thoughts are on a possible cull.”
He said that while the deer have been around for a while, they have become a much larger problem over the past couple of years.
Murrurundi has had an unfortunate record with pest epidemics recently, having dealt with up to 100,000 bats controlling the skies last year.
Like flying foxes, the deer pose a health risk by contaminating the water through wallowing and faecal matter, as well as transporting weed seeds into rivers.
Mr Pringle also said their economic impact can be severe, often beating livestock to good grazing grounds or destroying crops, which is even more harmful to the community in the midst of a drought.
“The main impact has been the potential to cause road accidents, we’ve also had damage to property and damage to people’s gardens,” he said.
He didn’t put an exact figure on the amount they’d be looking to get rid of if a cull is approved, but is confident it would have a substantial and positive impact, as it has in other regions around the nation.