A Donegal councillor has warned that a planned cull of deer in the county could turn into a “wild west” style shoot-out.
A rise in road traffic accidents involving wild deer, particularly in west Donegal, has led to calls for a cull of the red deer population in the county. Action is being sought as an increasing number of wild deer has spread across the county causing widespread problems.
Donegal county council’s agriculture committee met the Irish Deer Management Group to discuss the problem. Following the meeting, independent councillor for the Glenties’ region, Michael McClafferty warned that any cull of the wild animals must be carefully planned and executed.
Mr McClafferty said he feared that the situation could develop into a free-for-all and could lead to people being accidentally shot.
He told Highland Radio any cull should be carried out by experienced hunters operating a “one shot, one kill” approach.
“We don’t want things turning into a wild west situation where people are going out free hand, shooting guns, firing rifles, firing out windows, firing basically into the dark at targets that may or may not be deer.
“And then you have the respectful hunters who we refer to as the one shot, one kill. They will only take a shot on a deer if they are sure that they’re going to get that shot clearly,” he said.
Mr McClafferty said that experienced hunters are able to kill the deer instantly while those other hunters could cause a slow death to an animal.
“We cannot end up with the situation that I’m hearing about in some places, wild west situations; people driving along, shooting out of car windows,” he said.
In some cases teams of three people were involved in night hunts, with one driving, another holding a light and the third shooting from a car. Mr McClafferty said there had been reports of people being shot be hunters tracking deer.
