Cull push: Wonga Park residents hire hunters to shoot roos, deer

PEOPLE living in Wonga Park are hiring hunters to shoot roos and deer and calling for a State Government cull amid claims the animals are causing big problems.

WONGA Park residents are paying professional hunters to shoot kangaroos and deer as hundreds descend from Mt Lofty, causing problems on roads and destroying crops and vegetation.

Residents say deer are destroying vegetation in Melbourne’s east.

The situation has got so bad that landowners are calling on the State Government to cull the animals.

There have been reports of a Reserve Rd vineyard being damaged overnight a couple of weeks ago as well as deer destroying seedlings planted as part of a healthy waterways program.

Several motorists have told of near misses on Jumping Creek and Reserve roads on social media, with one warning it is only a matter of time before a 400kg deer jumps out at a car and causes a fatal collision.

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Homestead Rd resident Louise Holmes told the Leader the animals were coming from Mt Lofty and looking for food and water in the vicinity of Brushy Creek.

Ms Holmes said some residents are so fed up with the problem they’ve started paying hunters to help reduce the problem.

The hunters have relevant licences with property owners seeking clearance from Manningham Council, the local police and neighbours before a shoot, she said.

Ms Holmes said residents took the drastic action after the Reserve Rd vineyard was “decimated in one night” by roos and deer.

“There’s a group of about 10 of us. Our place backs on to Brushy Creek and there are people on the other side of the creek,” Ms Holmes said.

She said she’d planted seedlings on her property as part of Yarra Water’s healthy waterways program only to have to fork out hundreds to buy protective shields to prevent deer from destroying the young trees.

“It’s a major problem but council doesn’t seem to want to do anything about it,” she said.

And she said there was also concern now about road safety after a social media user reported a near miss with a deer in Jumping Creek Rd.

“Drive down Lower Homestead Rd at dusk and you’ll see hundreds of kangaroos coming off Mt Lofty and heading towards the golf course,” she said.

“It’s an accident waiting to happen.”

Ms Holmes said she’d heard about another near miss on Reserve Rd recently.

“A deer jumped down from the side of the hill onto the road and just missed the car,” she said.

“If they’d hit it they would have been dead,” she said.

“The do-gooders say don’t kill the deer because they’re cute but these things are 400kg. It’s a wonder someone hasn’t been killed.”

Manningham Council says it is a State Government concern.

A State Government spokesperson refused to say whether a cull would be considered but said residents could get a permit to shoot deer.

Readers took to Facebook to air their concerns.

Patrick Muldoon said in May he was driving from Doreen to Hurstbridge when he saw a deer standing in the middle of the road. He said he was fortunate to be able to slow down in time.

Ricky Dyson said his brother-in-law squealed like a young girl at a Bieber concert when the roo jumped in front of them while Justin Kerr said he just missed a deer two months ago on the Research Warrandyte Rd.