r/irishpolitics • u/firethetorpedoes1 • 1d ago
Infrastructure, Development and the Environment ‘Kill quickly and cleanly’: How culling can help manage Ireland’s rising deer population
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026/06/02/kill-quickly-and-cleanly-how-culling-can-help-manage-irelands-rising-deer-population/20
u/RomfordWellington 1d ago
We took out the natural apex predators so we need to take up the role.
No problem with this as long as the venison is eaten and we've a clear timetable on rewilding and reintroduction of native predators.
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u/BatRight868 1d ago
The issue is these are invasive deer living in non native commercial tree plantations that fuck all other flora or fauna can survive in
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u/RomfordWellington 1d ago
I'm not a fan of the commercial tree plantations myself except for the fact they're one of the few very effective carbon sinks we have left, especially as the turf extraction is still (illegally) going on.
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u/SoloWingPixy88 1d ago
We hardly want wolves patrolling the countryside.
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u/RomfordWellington 1d ago
Not the countryside now, but there's certainly a future where the state starts to buy back considerable amount of land and does a managed, sustainable rewild on it to the stage where we have native forests back. In that case, the wolf should return.
But you're right, not now.
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u/spairni Republican 1d ago
i kinda think we should be aiming towards it ok a very long term goal but theor eradication was [art of colonial land management, and I'd be a fan of decolonising entirely.
Obviously need more actual native forests first
we coexisted with wolves up till the 1700s surely we can do it again
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u/soulpotatoes Sinn Féin 1d ago
Sounds like there should be a few seasons of unrestricted shooting on roe and sikas deer, like was done in Australia with invasive species. A payout per head would entice more people. The deer has absolutely destroyed the grass inside the native forest near me, near on dead. Either this or wolves (would never happen with the sheep farming)
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u/AdamOfIzalith 1d ago edited 1d ago
We could use auld Jim and the boys or we could reintroduce a wolf population and re-establish the ecosystem that was previously in place. These deer being an invasive species is perfect for reintroduction because they will have an abundance of food. We can also just introduce the wolves onto nature preserves with sufficient security.
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u/John__Delaney 1d ago
Lead waste from hunting contaminates groundwater, soil, and aquatic ecosystems. Millions of birds die annually after ingesting spent lead pellets or consuming contaminated prey across europe, while toxic fragments frequently find their way into harvested game meat consumed by humans.
Shotgun shells and target debris scatter thousands of tons of plastic into woodlands and wetlands. Non-stick coatings on traditional bullets can contain PFAS that accumulate in ecosystems
Hunting is reactionary to deer overpopulation, so the damage to local ecosystems from overgrazing is often already done before a cull even begins.
Fact is the best solution by a mile is the introduction of wolves
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u/ZealousidealFloor2 1d ago
Deer hunting is rifle based I thought so would use far less pellets than shotguns? There would be some misses and debris of course but not to nearly the same extent as other hunting types.
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u/SoloWingPixy88 1d ago
You're not killing deer with shotgun shells or lead pellets. It's also not like they're spraying rifle bullets everywhere. You're looking at 4 bullets missing out of a 100.
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u/John__Delaney 1d ago
My points were general to cover all the ways culling can take place. Bullet fragments can go everywhere even when you are on target
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u/SoloWingPixy88 1d ago
No you were trying to correlate the issues with pellets from shotgun shells with birds eating them and bullets being shit at deer which are likely recovered with a low risk of fragmentation especially given Irish law is pushing towards fully copper encased bullets.
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u/Ed_the_Led_Man 1d ago
Best ?
You know and I know the rural population/infrastructure is no where near geared to take on wolves yet.
A better incentived hunting campaigns and stopping Sitka plantations where deer hide for mass culls best solution ATM, not wolves, as much as id like the idea
And the contamination..... I mean negligible, factor in the better biodiversity from non overgrazing then
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u/Captainirishy 1d ago edited 1d ago
Lead free ammunition already exists and we don't need wolves, we need recipes.
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u/Against_All_Advice 1d ago
You are correct on every point except that shotguns are not used to hunt deer.
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u/soulpotatoes Sinn Féin 1d ago
Introducing wolves would absolutely decimate sheep population.
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u/John__Delaney 1d ago
Where in the modern world have wolves ever decimated a single nations sheep population?
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u/soulpotatoes Sinn Féin 1d ago
Frontier farms in America struggle with them, Switzerland has rising livestock deaths and in Holland where they reintroduced wolves, hundreds were killed in the first year alone. A single wolf can kill up to 25 sheep in one day, they aren’t the hunt-to-eat kind as they will bite anything defenceless. An entire pack WILL slaughter a whole flock due to surplus hunting. The discussion around Reintroduction of wolves has been shot down in public discourse due to proven examples in other countries. Did you study the behaviour of wolves and habitats before making your comment?
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u/John__Delaney 1d ago
So nowhere at all then, just a stat you made up and can't back up
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u/soulpotatoes Sinn Féin 1d ago
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45141306 One of such links
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u/John__Delaney 1d ago
That article does not back up your claim. Sheep populations were not decimated by wolves in 2019 or any year since then. If you wish to correct your claim then go for it, but your claim as it stands is false.
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u/soulpotatoes Sinn Féin 15h ago
Any loss in a population is a big loss for an individual farmer
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u/John__Delaney 15h ago
Again, that article does not back up your claim. Sheep populations were not decimated by wolves in 2019 or any year since then. If you wish to correct your claim then go for it, but your claim as it stands is false.
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u/VictoryForCake 1d ago
If you introduce wolves you will get a surge in the wolf population as they reduce the deer population, then the larger wolf population will become unsustainable as prey is less common and as a result the wolves have to be culled in large numbers to prevent them going after agricultural animals and bothering human population centres.
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u/Against_All_Advice 1d ago
Yes. And that's ok too.
It would be far far fewer animals to cull which would help the situation dramatically.
Plus it's not only dead deer that wolves bring it's an environment of fear that keeps deer moving so they don't completely strip every tasty edible morsel from the land they're moving through.
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u/VictoryForCake 1d ago
Chatting to a friend in the NPWS there has been an odd thought of allowing unrestricted hunting of Roe and Sika deer, alongside the recently and illegally introduced muntjac deer with the goal of eventually clearing these species from Ireland and allowing the native red deer to become the only deer species. The red deer don't breed as fast as the other species, and they are less diverse in their food sources so overpopulation of deer will not be as serious a concern. I know its drastic but I hope it may eventually become a possibility as the red deer has lost almost all its habitat to the introduced deer and will never rebound otherwise.