Professional shooters will cull deer in Yarra Ranges parks to protect endangered wildlife

PROFESSIONAL shooters will kill deer in three Yarra Ranges parks in a revolutionary program to protect endangered wildlife and vegetation.

Deer will be culled by professional shooters in three Yarra Ranges parks to protect endan

PROFESSIONAL shooters will kill deer in three Yarra Ranges parks in a revolutionary new program to protect native endangered wildlife and vegetation.

Parks Victoria has announced the program to reduce deer numbers in the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve, Dandenong Ranges National Park, and the Warramate Hills Nature Conservation Reserve in Gruyere.

It comes after years of reports of a growing deer population in the Yarra Ranges, and calls from farmers and friends groups for authorities to take action.

Volunteer shooters from the Australian Deer Association (ADA) and the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA) will conduct the work over the next year.

The program is supported by Zoos Victoria, Friends of the Leadbeater’s possum and Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater Group.

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Parks Victoria District Manager Craig Bray said they had a populous place permit — to allow the use of firearms under certain conditions in public places like towns, thoroughfares or places open to the public — from Victoria Police to conduct the cull.

Mr Bray said they were in the final planning stages before beginning the program, and local neighbours would be informed of the program before it started.

It is the first time Parks Victoria has worked with the Australian Deer Association to deliver deer management in parks where recreational hunting is not permitted.

“Numbers (of deer) are steadily increasing, and the amount of damage and impact that is occurring to the vegetation then has a knock on effect to native animals,” Mr Bray said.

He said the volunteers from the two shooting associations were skilled marksman, that had a level of accreditation, “above and beyond a shooter’s licence”, so they could humanely destroy an animal.

“The key message from our end is it’s a management control program: it’s not opening these areas up to recreational hunting,” Mr Bray said.

“The key has always been around it being a safe program and it being humane.”

He said local police would be informed of the shooting schedule, and shooting could happen during the day or night, with affected areas closed off the public.

No shooting would be done on weekends, public or school holidays and staff and signs would warn visitors of the work, he said.

When asked if he expected opposition to the plans, Mr Bray said there would always be some people opposed to control actions.

Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater Group president Bob Anderson said the culling program was needed to save the highly-endangered animals living in the Yellingbo reserve.

“I think it has to happen if we want to keep the Helmeted Honeyeater birds and Leadbeater’s possum in the reserve,” Mr Anderson said.

“We need to have the natural habitat and they (the deer) destroy it.”

Dr Dan Harley from Zoos Victoria said the Leadbeater’s possum population in the reserve had declined to just 40 and habitat restoration was the key to saving the species at the site.

ADA Victoria president Colin Brumley said there would be no threat to public or animal safety during the program and the 25 hunters chosen from their organisation to take part were highly-skilled and experienced.

“The problem we’ve got is there hasn’t been ongoing management of the deer, so now they’re not in control; they need to be managed, they’ve been left to breed up,” Mr Brumley said.