May 6 2021
We were dismayed, but unsurprised yesterday to read more reporting by government agencies on aerial deer culling programs which was light on detail and heavy on spin. We cannot have any confidence in the ability of agencies to manage resources and spend public money if they are not prepared to be accountable and upfront about what they are doing and why they are doing it.
In this case the New South Wales Government’s Central Tablelands Local Land Services (LLS) was touting its “Aerial cull success” in a newsletter to local landholders. The hyperbolic reporting made exaggerated and unsupported claims about wild deer “decimating crops” and “spreading weeds” and stated that an aerial culling operation recently conducted between Bathurst and Orange was a “success” because it killed 513 deer.
What LLS notably didn’t report on was:
This is, sadly, the norm when it comes to Government agencies and wild deer. We can only conclude that if agencies were to tell the truth about impacts and the efficacy of their control measures the public would quickly jack up and the funding would quickly dry up.
The Australian Deer Association does not oppose controlling overabundant deer and we do not hold an ideological position on any particular control method. We argue that any control must be humane and, if it is to be at all credible, it must adhere to the International Consensus Principles for Wildlife Control, which state:
"The objectives of wildlife control should be specific, measurable, and outcome‐based, where the outcome relates to the desired reduction of harm—such as reducing crop loss, preventing transmission of a vector‐borne disease, or increasing an endangered species population—rather than simply reducing the number of target animals. An understanding of population size, demography, ecology, behaviour, and reproductive capacity, and the effectiveness of the chosen action are required to judge the likelihood of success. Monitoring is critical and often over‐looked, and wildlife control should be rooted in an adaptive‐management framework."
We will continue to pursue accountability for wild deer control programs, to prosecute the role of recreational hunters and to fight for conversations about wild deer management to be based on facts, data and evidence rather than hyperbole and fear mongering.
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