One of Ireland\u2019s best-known wild animals, the sika deer, has been declared an invasive species in the European Union, raising questions around whether it must now be culled. <\/p>\n
The smallest of the country\u2019s three wild deer, sika was added to the EU list of alien invasive species of union concern last summer. Notice that the addition applied to Ireland was only published in recent days. <\/p>\n
Its inclusion means countries must eradicate the deer, control their populations or prevent their arrival in the first place.<\/p>\n
The Irish Deer Commission said members were \u201cscratching our heads\u201d over the move.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no consultation. It was slipped in quietly,\u201d said spokesman Damien Hannigan. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere were proposals within the EU to do this for a while because sika was a relatively new arrival in a number of countries, but Ireland has had them for so long that, while they are not native, they are naturalised.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mr Hannigan said the commission had hoped that if the EU pushed ahead with the proposal, Ireland would seek a derogation. <\/p>\n
The Department of Housing, which speaks for the National Parks and Wildlife Service, said management measures must be in place within 18 months.<\/p>\n
They must ensure the \u201cimpact on biodiversity, the related ecosystems services, and, where applicable, on human health or the economy, are minimised\u201d. It did not specify what those measures might be. <\/p>\n
Sika deer, originally from Asia, are growing in numbers and damaging crops, forestry and rewilding efforts. <\/p>\n
In Ireland, where they were introduced in 1860, they also pose a hazard to motorists. <\/p>\n
However, these problems are caused by deer generally as, even with 80,000 sika, red and fallow deer killed each year by licensed hunters, their numbers are increasing. <\/p>\n
Mr Hannigan said the commission accepted the need to manage numbers but did not see how it was technically feasible to separate sika for selective measures. <\/p>\n
John Kelly, invasive species programme manager with the National Biodiversity Data Centre, said managing sika would be complex and it would take time to develop a plan. <\/p>\n
\u201cHaving it in the EU list is helpful because it is an added driver to the efforts already under way to manage the country\u2019s deer populations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Department of Agriculture set up a deer management strategy group in 2022 to explore ways of keeping numbers in check. Culling emerged as the main solution. <\/p>\n
The department did not give details of what other measures might apply to sika deer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile sika deer have been classified as an invasive species, there has been a surge in numbers in all breeds,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a need to address this increase and so the management of sika deer will be incorporated into the wider deer management measures.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Ireland\u2019s best-known wild animals, the sika deer, has been declared an invasive species in the European…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[51,21882,1700,3240,1234,5494,285,70,2600,16,15,107434,1717,94014],"class_list":{"0":"post-708210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-davos","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-financial","12":"tag-government","13":"tag-political","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-switzerland","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-wef","20":"tag-wildlife","21":"tag-world-economic-forum"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115926443127132850","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}