BBC, Deer Culling

[Cranhill]

Wider deer culling planned for England to protect trees and crops

The government unveils a long awaited 10-year deer management plan that will identify priority culling areas.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[John Gryphon]

Wider deer culling planned for England to protect trees and crops

The government unveils a long awaited 10-year deer management plan that will identify priority culling areas.

www.bbc.co.uk

Instead, PETA called for "humane and sustainable" options to be used, including habitat modification, appropriate fencing and limiting access to artificial food sources.

Well Fcku you PETA howzabout you weigh in with money for exclusion fencing. See below.

Based on financial reports, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is a large-scale non-profit organization with significant annual revenue.

• Revenue: In their 2021 tax filing, total revenue was approximately $68 million, which grew to $82 million in 2022.
• Net Assets: As of their latest financial reports, PETA reported net assets of over $37 million at the end of the year.
• Funding Sources: Revenue includes contributions, merchandise sales, and interest/dividends/royalties.

 

[Bo Diddley]

What planet does the PETA group come from ... one far, far away, a small hollow, blue planet called Fcuktardier...

 

[Mr. Gain]

An article on the same subject, from The Guardian.

Surprisingly, they don't platform PETA, though they do talk about deer having "babies", and don't seem to have much of a clue about what the government are actually proposing (which,come to think of it, is probably accurate reporting.)

UPDATE: I've just seen that these are pre-reports and the government will be releasing the details later today.

Anyway, at least they didn't forget venison entirely. Nice to know they're "looking at" that.

The culled deer may be eaten, with Defra looking at how to market and safely get the meat into the supply chain.

Dear* [sic - nominative determinism?] said: “There is a section of the strategy that is looking at venison marketing and supporting that industry. Supporting the wild venison sector will hopefully reduce the cost of management

*Emma Dear, principal officer for tree establishment at Natural England.

Farming Online reports it a bit more clearly:

Supporting the wild venison market

To complement these measures, the government will also support the domestic wild venison market, helping to offset the costs of managing deer impacts by lethal control, including supporting the British Quality Wild Venison Standard, to boost consumer confidence. This includes support for the British Quality Wild Venison Standard to boost consumer confidence and exploring the use of public procurement to increase consumption. Wild venison is a healthy, high‑protein food, rich in essential amino acids and lower in cholesterol and saturated fats than many other red meats.

Their support appears to be limited to the British Quality Wild Venison Standard, however. Is that significant? I don't know.

 

[TringSaint]

The bit that got me was peta’s claim that if we shoot deer then the excess food will make the ones left breed more!
Whilst I can appreciate that in some environments this might increase the fawn /calf yield from <1 / doe/hind /year to 1/year, but for most species of deer it’s not going to cause this to jump to 2-3/ year, and certainly not going to immediately rebound the population if we cull harder.
Around here there is no shortage of food for the deer.

Funny that thy don’t consider the welfare of deer which are struggling to find food due to the increase in mouths to feed during the winter or the increased chance of disease running through the deer population due to increased contact - peta clearly are ok with deer starving to death or dying from disease, but not ok with them being shot!

FWIW, I think that the 2 million population is an underestimate by some way, especially given the explosion in numbers of cwd and muntjac, both of which are much harder to assess in terms of population.

 

[Buchan]

The bit that got me was ***** claim that if we shoot deer then the excess food will make the ones left breed more!

This is a recognised effect in ecology - compensatory growth I think it's called. Reduce the population but leave the resources and the population will regrow once the culling pressure is removed. Some studies in foxes in Wales I think. The organisation referred to are however not noted for logic.
However to compare them to the beloved Clangers is an outrage.
I am amused by the nominative determinism of Emma Dear...

 

[John Gryphon]

I am amused by the nominative determinism of Emma Dear...

good pick up

 

[TringSaint]

This is a recognised effect in ecology - compensatory growth I think it's called. Reduce the population but leave the resources and the population will regrow once the culling pressure is removed. Some studies in foxes in Wales I think. The organisation referred to are however not noted for logic.
However to compare them to the beloved Clangers is an outrage.
I am amused by the nominative determinism of Emma Dear...

Sure, if you cull and then do nothing or limited culls then the population will recover, but it’s not a reason not to cull.
They aren’t going to exercise birth control of their own will, are they?

 

[Klenchblaize]

Good news if you sell thermal kit.

K

 

[slider]

Whether we agree with it or not the dramatic rise in deer numbers in the last 50 years can be traced back to the introduction of seasons and the protection of deer introduced by the Deer Act 1963.
Subsequent legislation has reduced those protections to an extent, but once the genie is out of the bottle........

 

[VSS]

Whether we agree with it or not the dramatic rise in deer numbers in the last 50 years can be traced back to the introduction of seasons and the protection of deer introduced by the Deer Act 1963.
Subsequent legislation has reduced those protections to an extent, but once the genie is out of the bottle........

I don't think that particular genie is going to go back in the bottle until UK public perception and acceptance of firearms ownership, and hunting in general, changes.
And I don't see that happening any time soon. And I think shooters are partly to blame for that.
Maybe when a lot more people have been killed in vehicle/deer collisions things might change a bit, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Mike1979]

I don't think that particular genie is going to go back in the bottle until UK public perception and acceptance of firearms ownership, and hunting in general, changes.
And I don't see that happening any time soon. And I think shooters are partly to blame for that.
Maybe when a lot more people have been killed in vehicle/deer collisions things might change a bit, but I'm not holding my breath.

Tim, interested in the comment above in bold and why you think shooters are partly to blame?

 

[mammoth200]

The Telegraph is suggesting the Gov are intending to allow night shooting of deer. Having read through the Guardian article, I was struggling to ascertain what is actually being proposed. Perhaps we wait and see what comes out of the Gov plans. I'm with VSS though, Public perception of firearms is not particularly conducive to this new proposal (whatever it ends up being) coupled with the S1/S2 business. All feels a bit.. Muddled.

All the while I'm waiting for someone at my local constabulary to get round to taking a look at my FAC application, 6 months and counting.

 

[Mr. Gain]

The policy statement is now available.
This part looks interesting... though more along the lines of continuing existing schemes than committing additional funds to new initiatives.

Alongside supporting the British Quality Wild Venison Standard, Defra has provided support at each stage of the supply chain:

investment in skills in safe and hygienic preparation of wild venison through funding dedicated training courses
making funding available towards specialist processing equipment through grant schemes such as the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (which provided grants for chillers to store and transport venison carcases that await processing), and the Farming in Protected Landscapes Fund (which is funding wild venison projects where deer impacts affect protected landscapes)
grant support to improve the capacity of game handling establishments and local food operators that process wild, free-roaming, venison, including through the Smaller Abattoirs Fund and Adding Value grant
exploring domestic and international market opportunities for wild venison and ensuring more wild venison can be offered as an option through public procurement networks, through working with the GB Wild Venison Working Group, and using our strong relationships with the food industry

 

[Malxwal]

Radio just now, the tone of the news reader, shock that farmers should shoot deer. Then straight to PETA, who blathers about food source restrictions and not getting the shotgun out.....
The BBC is hopelessly lost.
I suppose if Milliband has his way, there'll be no crops for deer to eat, just grass in the solar farms.

 

[slider]

Tim, interested in the comment above in bold and why you think shooters are partly to blame?

Trophy hunting. Avoiding shooting females to increase opportunities to shoot bucks/stags

 

[Bo Diddley]

Radio just now, the tone of the news reader, shock that farmers should shoot deer. Then straight to PETA, who blathers about food source restrictions and not getting the shotgun out.....
The BBC is hopelessly lost.
I suppose if Milliband has his way, there'll be no crops for deer to eat, just grass in the solar farms.

Similar on LBC with Nick Ferrari. Although a couple of stalkers did ring in and try to put everyone straight with a reality check.

 

[Mr. Gain]

I see we now have a thread specifically covering this strategy announcement.

[Not much there yet.]

 

[Nickb]

Wor Cwis will be spouting off shortly

 

[Malxwal]

Trophy hunting. Avoiding shooting females to increase opportunities to shoot bucks/stags

A place local'ish, old keeper produced top notch gold medals, by shooting does hard.
Another place managed by an outfitter catering to foreign clients, estate literally crawling with does.