Partnering with landholders to control pest animals
23 Jul 2024
Hunter Local Land Services has worked with Upper Hunter Shire Council since 2019 to plan and undertake feral deer control programs to mitigate deer in built up areas, particularly in areas bordering the New England Highway.
The spread of feral deer in recent years has seen an increase in the risk of accidents due to collisions with vehicles and trucks on the heavily travelled New England Highway.
This autumn, Hunter Local Land Services worked with landholders to control feral deer populations with a coordinated aerial program in the Wingen/Murrurundi area.
Brett Miners, Chair of the Hunter Regional Pest Advisory Committee said, “There is a significant threat to human life through road collisions and there is also economic impact to road users through damage to cars and insurance providers through insurance claims.
“Deer used to be a bit of a novelty, but we are now regularly seeing mobs of over 100 feral deer damaging the landscape.”
The most recent control program covered 13,000 hectares across fifteen properties with a focus on control of areas adjacent to the New England Highway. With 40 hours of flight time, over 2,500 deer were controlled.
In addition to the serious road safety impact of feral deer, they also destroy native plants by trampling them, grazing on them and ringbarking young trees and cause soil erosion due to the impact of their hard hooves in sensitive areas.
Landholders have provided feedback that keeping on top of weeds and fixing fences after a mob of feral deer have gone through is becoming a full-time job with an increasing presence of deer on their properties.
Controlling feral deer really needs whole of community involvement to have lasting impact on numbers.
Deer don’t listen to farm boundaries, so whether you’re on 100 acres or 1,000, landholders are being encouraged all need to take part in coordinated programs to reduce the impacts of deer and other pest animals.
Controlling pest animals is everyone’s responsibility, including small landholders and hobby farmers. Landholders are encouraged to take part in coordinated efforts to deal with pest animals on their land to meet their general biosecurity duty obligations under the Biosecurity Act 2015.
If you are a landholder and have seen deer on your property or in your district, you should report the sightings through FeralScan – the app downloadable from the FeralScan website www.feralscan.org.au.
Contact your local Biosecurity Officer to seek advice on controlling pest animals on your property by calling Hunter Local Land Services on 1300 795 299.