This article is from page 3 of the 2007-04-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
A CLARE councillor has said that the problem of large numbers of red deer running wild in Clare could be turned to the county’s advantage, if game hunters can be attracted here to shoot detoeeF
Councillor Colm Wiley caused up- roar at a council meeting last week when he called for wild-life rangers to be brought in to cull the herds, add- ing that he feared the stags might mate with local cattle.
“They’re breaking down fences and grazing farmers’ grass. They graze during the night, and you don’t know what they’re at,” the councillor said.
Clir Wiley added that one of the most serious dangers of having such large numbers of deer 1s that they “jump out in front of cars as people are driving”.
One woman who contacted the coun- cillor, Mary McCarthy from Clarecas- tle, says a stag and about eight does are regular burglars in her garden.
“They break through any fences I put up and they graze the lawn and break
things. The stag is very big, and I’d be very nervous of him,” she said.
Councillor Wiley had asked that army sharp-shooters be brought in to cull the herds, but Minister Willie O’Dea said the soldiers had “better things to do”.
Meanwhile, Conor Kelleher, Chair- man of the Irish Wildlife Trust, said the prospect of deer breeding with cows “is scientifically and genetically impossible. It just doesn’t happen. I’ve never seen a cow out there with antlers — the man doesn’t know what he’s
talking about”.
Now Cllr Wiley says that what is a problem could be turned to an advan- tage “if we brought in stalkers who have proper licences to shoot game. There are plenty of them, here and in England. We’re already very well known for our excellent fishing and we could develop the shooting and fishing tourism and get the numbers of deer olen yia tae
Clir Wiley said that there are cur- rently 2,000 deer culled in Ireland every year. “The advantage of venison
is that it’s edible all year round,’ he Sr BIOR
But Clir Wiley’s call for a cull has not met with unanimous approval.
Environmentalist Colin Wilson of the educational charity, CELT, asked which species did the councillor want culled? “Why not just take out any- thing that moves – and a few things that don’t,” he said. “Let’s do away with nature and science altogether and pretend everything will be fine! Or we could try another solution – cull a few old farts.”