A couple in the market for a new home were admiring the natural landscape at a property they were inspecting when suddenly they saw a deer peering at them through the back fence.
Buyer’s agent Tegan Vincent, who was showing the Sydney property, said it was the last thing she and the couple from Newtown were expecting to see in bushland behind the Gymea Bay home in the Sutherland Shire.
Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, she said the client “thought it was a statue”, but they quickly realised “it was real”.
“They wanted a bit more nature, and they certainly got that,” she said.
Tegan, from Inside Buyer, said it was the first time she’d seen a deer in the area, despite being “a true local”. But she’s since learned “they’re everywhere in the Shire” — particularly around Grays Point and Gymea Bay.
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Tegan Vincent, a Sydney-based buyer’s agent, said she and the clients were shocked by the deer and didn’t know they existed in the area.
(Tegan Vincent)
Shire residents regularly report the pest rummaging through suburban properties and roaming the streets, often darting through traffic, a fair way from the bush and national parks they usually roam — and it’s proof of their spread.
Speaking to Yahoo about the issue recently, Jack Gough from the Invasive Species Council said it used to be “unusual” to see deer “deep into suburbia”, but it’s now becoming increasingly common.
Why are deer so problematic?
Feral deer, an introduced species, are known to be quite problematic. Not just in Southern Sydney but across the country.
“It’s a problem in Melbourne and a growing issue in the Gold Coast and Canberra,” Jack said.
“Adelaide is trying to remove them from the hills before they get out of control there.”
In Tasmania, calls are mounting for governments to somehow reduce deer numbers.
“They have an impact on road users, they cause degradation of the environment, and they have a negative impact on agriculture,” Jack said previously.
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In suburbia, where their presence is becoming more prominent, residents may soon notice their impact.
“In the city, it’s about the impact they have in digging up people’s gardens and sending people’s car insurance premiums higher,” Jack said
“Feral deer trash, they trample, and they pollute our environment. They’re a serious pest.”
Deer are regularly spotted roaming the streets and gardens in southern Sydney. PIctured here in Gymea Bay, March
Is anything being done to control the deer population?
In most states and territories, deer are a protected species, so culling them has not been an option.
In 2015, NSW changed its regulations to allow deer to be hunted on private land, while controlled government-led programmes have been introduced to help manage growing populations in open areas.
Aerial shooting using thermal scopes has been the most effective method to control populations in national parks, such as the Royal National Park in Sydney’s south; however, it’s not allowed in state forests.
Because of the large numbers, eradication is near impossible.
“Now it’s basically about long-term management. It’ll be an ongoing maintenance,” Jack said.
“People are going to forever be seeing deer in their backyards, on the roads, and trashing and trampling that National Park and surrounding gardens and bushland”.
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