To whom...?

Last seen ten days ago on a much pleasanter morning the hinds were back grazing the  parts west of the woods as the rain became serious.

We wondered where they might have got to during the heavy snow but they have a wide choice of sheltered and secret hideouts on Blacka. We might look over towards some of the likeliest of them but can’t explore them all and shouldn’t try. And of course they could have beeen elsewhere entirely on land beyond Blacka, so we cannot claim they are Blacka's deer. They belong to nobody: an interesting state of affairs.

The EMP has a stated intention to manage the deer
“ to a carrying capacity and sex ratio which is optimal for the habitat on the Eastern Moors and the health of the herd themselves, also minimising any potential negative impacts on neighbours.”

Let’s not beat about the bush. This means shooting deer. The statement raises so many questions but experience shows that answers (if you get them at all) raise even more. A good start would be
“to whom do the deer belong that you to have the right to manage them - and kill them - considering that they roam over the land of many different owners?”