As part of a national program to reduce the impact of feral deer across Australia, a draft National Feral Deer Action Plan is now available for a three-month public consultation.
Feral deer (wild deer in Tasmania and Victoria) is a growing threat to Australia’s primary industries, environment and cultural heritage as populations boom and spread across the nation.
It is estimated that there are now 1-2 million feral deer in Australia, a rapid increase from an estimated 200,000 population in 2000.
Feral deer are now found in almost one-quarter of New South Wales and Tasmania, nearing half of Victoria and across approximately 40% of the South Australia’s agricultural regions. This recent spread is prompting an urgent need to establish new tools and approaches to managing the pest .
The draft plan, written in consultation with the National Feral Deer Working Group, provides a nationally co-ordinated approach to ultimately slow and reduce the growth of feral deer populations in Australia.
The plan takes a multifaceted approach to reduce the impacts of feral deer by focussing on three goals:
- Stop the spread of large feral deer populations and reduce their impact.
- Control or eradicate small, isolated populations before they spread.
- Protect significant sites and species from the impact of feral deer.
Some of the draft Plan’s proposed actions over the next five years include developing a national awareness program, better tools and approaches to control feral deer encroaching into peri-urban areas, establishing a national containment buffer program, developing better ways to detect and respond to new incursions, and prioritising areas of national and international importance for conservation and cultural protection from feral deer.
The development of the plan is part of a National Deer Management Coordinator project that is funded by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, through the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (between 2020 and June 2022) and led by the South Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regions.
For more information and to download the Draft National Feral Deer Action Plan go to the National Feral Deer Action Plan website.
Consultation closes on Monday 20 March 2023 with feedback to be provided either via email to coordinator@feraldeerplan.org.au or via www.feraldeerplan.org.au
See information on current feral deer management practices.