Alliance reinforce the importance of controlling muntjac numbers

The Countryside Alliance has featured in a national news story about how the Covid-19 lockdown has meant the necessary cull of muntjac, has not taken place.

The article first appeared in The Sunday Times.

Sam Carlisle, from the Countryside Alliance campaign group, whose family farm in Suffolk normally culls 40 muntjac deer a year, told The Sunday Times: "It's critical to get the stalking done early because these are small animals, about the size of a spaniel. You need to do it when the undergrowth is not so tall, which means March and April. We have missed our chance now."

The culling of muntjacs, which were brought from China to Woburn Park in Bedfordshire in the early 20th century , normally takes place in early spring, when the vegetation is too thin to hide the animals. The lockdown which has been implemented to stop the spread of Covid-19, means little shooting has taken place. As muntjacs breed rapidly, their numbers can be controlled only by shooting up to 30% of them each year.

In the same article, Charles Smith-Jones of the British Deer Society, also made clear his concerns about growing populations of invasive sika deer, which were imported from Japan, and Chinese water deer. He told The Sunday Times: "The problem is that for all UK deer species there are no natural predators and large landowners often face criticism for culling them."

It means there are now an estimated two million deer in the UK, the biggest population ever seen. About half are in Scotland with numbers rising steadily.

Studies by Scottish Natural Heritage and Highways England suggest deer cause up to 74,000 road accidents a year in the UK.