The Invasive Species Council has welcomed the first nationwide plan for controlling feral deer.
Announced by the Federal Government on August 14, the first National Feral Deer Action Plan details a collaborative approach to manage the exponential growth of deer numbers.
ISC spokesperson Tiana Pirtle said the plan was a “potential game-changer” in stopping the spread of deer through native forests and farmland.
“Decades of delays in a serious, coordinated effort to stem the tide of feral deer have allowed their numbers to explode tenfold up to potentially two million.” Dr Pirtle said.
“Feral deer are wreaking havoc on our environment and agriculture.”
Deer overgraze and trample native grasslands, ring-bark trees and cause erosion by wallowing in wetlands and streams.
The control plan details 22 actions in a collaborative approach between government and non-government organisations and aims to eradicate smaller isolated infestations, control the spread of larger populations and address the impact of deer in peri-urban areas.
Federal Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Murray Watt said many stakeholders were working together to implement the plan.
“The government understands the importance of managing feral animals in Australia to protect our agricultural industries and the environment,” Senator Watt said.
“Managing feral deer is a shared responsibility.”
However, the ISC said the plan would require further funding to meet its targets.
“It is vital that ministers [Tanya] Plibersek and Watt step up and commit to work with the states to ensure the funding is made available to turn these plans into action,” Dr Pirtle said
Victoria’s ISC official Peter Jacobs said the continued protection of deer as a game animal in Victorian and Tasmanian was an “outdated attitude”.
“This plan should be a wake-up call,” Mr Jacobs said.
“As deer spread into urban areas, they are threatening the lives of motorists, destroying gardens, contaminating critical water catchments and damaging the few remaining patches of urban bushland.”
The Game Management Authority said more than 120,000 deer were harvested in Victoria in 2022, an increase of four per cent from 2021 and 49 per cent from the yearly average of 82,000.
The numbers were based on a survey of 2400 licensed Victorian hunters, which found that about half of the state’s 50,478 hunters each harvested on average 4.9 deer across about 8.6 days.
The feral deer action plan is available at: www.feraldeerplan.org.au