Dangerous animals

It was at one of the meetings in Totley last year (euphemistically called consultation meetings) for the Eastern Moors Partnership that farmers called for a cull to be made of the wild deer. They were quoting vastly inflated numbers since adjusted down considerably by EMP. One of their key arguments was that they were a danger on the roads and it’s certainly true that deer can jump fences with ease and are large animals. An impact at speed can result in serious injury and worse for the motorist – though it’s rare people consider the animal which never voted for the party that decided to have the road built. At the time I suggested a cull of sheep would be more proportional based on my personal observations. To put some statistical backing to my claim I’ve asked the local police to give me figures of reports made to them by the public of deer and other animals on the roads.
There are two police forces involved. One is South Yorks Police and the other is Derbyshire Constabulary and because of the different ways they keep records I’ve kept the information separate. The incidents I’ve looked at relate to road around the Eastern Moors and Burbage.
From South Yorks Police the reports listed of animals on the roads over two years are as follows:

Cows 14
Sheep 31
Dogs 4
Deer 1

From Derbyshire Constabulary over one year the figures are

Cows 8
Sheep 10
Dogs 1
Deer 2
Badger 2

As can be seen from this the chances of your hitting a cow are some 7 times more likely and a sheep some 13 times more likely than a deer. Nevertheless I would recommend that anyone driving on these roads should moderate their speeds especially at night.

Some interesting snippets from the information: One report mentioned a swan and another reported a pheasant on Bramall Lane! Another report from close to the city wa of a duck and ducklings on Duchess Road.

It’s probable that we didn’t need to scour these reports to conclude that any claims from farmers should be listened to with some scepticism. They are in the forefront alongside the conservation industry in shouting that all our countryside must be managed or there will be some kind of catastrophe, (God help us). If you were really keen to exterminate wild deer and anxious to get evidence to back up your prejudice you would be tempted to point to the Bushey Park herd. But you would then have to explain that behaviour in the completely different surroundings of a walled in park with large numbers of visitors getting close up would be automatically replicated in the wide open spaces out here. Nobody has yet suggested excluding cows from the countryside despite regular deaths caused by attacks on walkers. On Blacka now you're less likely to be charged by a stag than slip on a cowpat and break your neck.