Deer cull urgently needed to protect motorists of North Cork
A deer cull is urgently needed to protect motorists following an explosion in the wild population in parts of North Cork.
Council engineers have put up a number of signs in the region warning of the possibility that deer may jump out on the roads, but some councillors believe that this is not the best solution and a cull should instead be carried out quickly.
There's deer spreading all over the place. Erecting warning signs won't stop a deer jumping over a ditch and onto a car.
"Somebody's going to get killed," Cllr Timmy Collins told a meeting of the Kanturk/Mallow Municipal District Council.
He said that he was aware of deer spreading into his home village of Meelin and into nearby Rockchapel.
The issue was first raised by Cllr John Paul O'Shea who said that he had heard concerns about the influx of wild deer in areas such as Lombardstown, Lyre and Nadd.
The municipal district council had written to the Wildlife Licencing Unit at Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the Department of Agriculture and the council's own veterinary department seeking advice.
A letter from the Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, which was given to councillors at today's meeting, said that people could get licences to cull deer.
However, the department said doing anything deer encroaching onto public roads was not its responsibility.
Cllr O'Shea was annoyed that the Department of Agriculture had not responded to the council letter, which was written two months ago.
He was even more annoyed to be told by officials that no reply had been received from the council's own veterinary department.
Municipal district officer Liz Donovan said she would contact the veterinary department directly.
"We need a controlled culling urgently and this can only be done in conjunction with the Department (of Agriculture)," Cllr O'Shea said.
