Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A SECTION OF Killarney National Park and Killarney Golf Course has been closed to the public to facilitate a cull of deer in the area.
The closure is set to continue during a culling programme which will last until mid-March.
Around 900 red deer – one of Ireland’s oldest mammals – now live in the Killarney area, along with around 500 Sika, according to estimates last year.
Their numbers have increased so much that they regularly roam the main roads at Ross and near St Mary’s Cathedral in the heart of Killarney town.
Collisions with cars as well as damage to woodlands has led to calls for culls in recent years.
Local representatives and bereaved individuals claim that deer roaming onto the road from the woodlands are responsible for at least two fatalities on the N72.
But the red deer are also an important tourist attraction in the town and are much liked by regular walkers in the area.
Representatives of deer management bodies are also being asked about animal welfare issues with a cull at the very end of the hunting season, when stags lose their antlers, the deer are in poor shape after winter and females are heavily pregnant.
Questions have been raised about whether pregnant hinds were being shot.
Meanwhile, the closure signs by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, which were placed at a number of entrances to the park on Wednesday, warned of extreme danger with “deer shooting in progress”.
The cull is being carried out by trained National Parks and Wildlife Service rangers.
Marksmen are concentrating on red stags, and seeking to avoid the females because these will now be in calf, according to sources.
A cull is also underway of the upland red deer herd which is based in the Muckross and Mangerton areas.
Further closures of the Demesne area of Killarney National Park between 6am and 11am are planned in the coming weeks for further culls.
The total numbers culled up to August of last year in Killarney was 270, including both Sika and red deer.
The Irish Deer Commission said that although a cull is needed in Killarney, it must be done in a manner that has full regard for animal welfare.
“Carrying out a cull at at close of the legal culling season when females were heavily pregnant and stags were in poor condition is not best practice,” Damien Hannigan of the commission said.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
You’d be fair fecking cold if you only grabbed your hat and scarf..
No scorchio.
Hat scarf and sock
Dont forget your copy of the Holly Bough
I hope it drops down to below Zero & freezes the shxxe outa all the germs, virus’s & infections that are doing the rounds now. So many people sick with all the dirty fog & damp weather. A decent blast of frost & ice will soon solve that.
It was -36 here in Calgary yesterday . A day for the high stool and the bovril !
Ronan, I remember a friend of mine who emigrated to Edmonton, he said Ireland always felt colder when he came home for Christmas because of the damp.
I’d still rather be short taken in Enniscorthy than Edmonton though.
I was in Regina, Saskatchewan in central Canada for 3 weeks on a business trip. Just home a few days…. The first week or so it was -22 Celsius on a good day! Took your breath away! Crazy cold. Wind chill brought it down to – 31 Celsius. But Ireland’s damp cold is something to behold.
when was the last time met eireann got the weather forecast right?
Today?
Nowhere near to -2…
The forecast rain moving across the country and a night-time low of -2, we got both .
What a time to shave off my MO. My top lip will be cold tomorrow.
I really hope you’re a fella?.
Grab the duvet and stay in bed
Roll on summer!
No no no.it’s the warmest 1st week in December on record.
I’ll believe it when I feel it.
I have my hat got since last week (and I have rarely taken it off) but I still refuse to wear my winter jacket. Has to drop to below 0 for that.
When does it not feel cold and wintry…only stating the obvious.
Where were you all summer?
I have a whopper scarf and hat. Jacomos.com is the spot. Clothes only whop they are
Great. Just when my boiler decides to have a tantrum.
have your say