Submission
The population and range of wild fallow deer in Tasmania is expanding. These feral animals are an increasing risk to some parks and reserves. The proposed Wild Fallow Deer Management Plan must facilitate or provide for the following:
- Deer must be eradicated within all conservation reserves and controlled elsewhere so that they cannot spread into reserves in the future.
- This can only be achieved by an evidence based and appropriately-resourced pest management program, not a relaxation of the rules governing recreational hunting on reserved land.
- Better information on the numbers, distribution and impact of deer is fundamental to such a pest management program and hence is urgently needed.
- To facilitate the eradication of deer in conservation reserves, consideration must be given to changing the ‘partly protected’ status of wild fallow deer.
The Tasmanian National Parks Association offers an independent voice for Tasmania’s national parks and reserves, to ensure they are managed for the conservation of the values for which they were proclaimed.