Declare deer a feral pest

A NORTH-EAST Victorian mayor says deer “are everywhere” in his shire and has urged the Victorian Government to declare them a feral pest.

Pest: Towong Shire Mayor Aaron Scales is calling for deer to be declared a feral pest as numbers spiral out of control.

A NORTH-EAST Victorian mayor says deer “are everywhere” in his shire and has urged the Victorian Government to declare them a feral pest.

Towong Shire Mayor Aaron Scales believes deer are out of control and their numbers continue to boom. Nothing is being done to mitigate the economic and environmental damage they are inflicting on the shire’s parks and farmers, he said.

“We are advocating that the Victorian Government declare deer a feral pest species,” he said.

“In addition, we want the Government to develop a policy appropriate to support the eradication of the feral pest species.”

“We are advocating for the State Government and relevant authorities to also better support communities facing excessive deer populations and the problems with illegal hunting.”

Cr Scales said the decision to ask for deer to become feral pests came after the community made it clear they were fed up with the deer problem.

“Hopefully this will make them (the government) do something,” Mr Scales said.

“Deer are breeding in the forest then coming out and eating grass and damaging crops.

“While we’ve had OK rainfall it is not a typical year and every blade of grass counts.”

Fifth generation Corryong beef farmer Doug Paton said the government must declare them a feral pest.

“Deer are consuming large amounts of pasture and compete for food with my stock which is causing them great stress in this time of limited pasture growth,” Mr Paton said.

“Am I going to have to erect a deer-proof fence at great expense just to continue farming?”

Deer could potentially carry diseases, contaminate water catchments, were a danger to road users and added to the wild dog problem with a readily available source of food from deer carcasses, Mr Paton said.

A Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning spokeswoman said deer management was a shared responsibility between communities, government, industries, businesses and stakeholder organisations.

“The protection of deer as ‘game’ under the Wildlife Act 1975 does not prevent their control when they are causing damage to the environment or property,” the spokeswoman said.

“Deer, with the exception of Hog Deer, are unprotected on private land and can legally be controlled, provided the land owners or their agents have an appropriate firearms licence and any other necessary approvals under the Firearms Act 1996.”.