Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area deer cull
The PWS Report on the 2024 component of the 2023-24 deer control project is now available HERE. As in 2023, the vast majority of the deer were shot within the Central Plateau Conservation Area immediately to the east of the Walls of Jerusalem National Park. 306 deer were shot (and 1017 deer over the full two-year program). The volunteer on-ground shooting program was described as “highly successful” despite requiring 42 person-days of effort to remove 10 deer. The balance of 296 were killed in 65 hours of helicopter shooting.
The deer control project was only funded for two years and is now complete. PWS acknowledge the need for ongoing control to prevent deer from becoming established within the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area (TWWHA) but do not anticipate ongoing funding for aerial culling. PWS appear to hope that an enhanced surveillance program and an expanded on-ground shooting program using volunteers will suffice in the future but this seems extremely optimistic given the low effectiveness of on-ground shooting compared to aerial.
Assessment of shot deer indicated that many had been grazing on the endangered Miena Cider Gum. This reinforces the need for a properly resourced ongoing culling program to prevent feral deer from establishing a permanent population within the TWWHA. The best long-term solution is, of course, statewide management of deer as a feral pest species rather than a resource to be managed for hunting.