Death Row

Will there be a row? And whether there is or not where will it lead?

The fear of a public outcry against the decision to cull deer on the Eastern Moors means that management is being cagey. But it's there in black and white, dated December 2014.

"Therefore we are proposing to reduce the number this winter back to the 200 mark. This will be carried out by professionals in deer management......"

The message that came from my conversation yesterday is that they are listening to what people say. But which people? Only those who are told presumably. And grateful as I am for the chance to put my view, and polite and listening as the meeting was, it was only by some accidental revelation that I knew of this at all. In fact only months before I was being told the killing of wildlife was not going to happen.

Below are points I made plus some others:

1 The decision has come rather suddenly after a reported increase in numbers on Bigmoor. How much thought has gone into accounting for a significant increase in the second part of 2014 on one site among many. Observation on Blacka indicate a substantial and unusual reduction of numbers and sightings in the same period. That suggests a temporary gathering that may not be replicated in other years, possibly down to unseasonal conditions. Culling now could impact on the numbers on other moors that would be undesirable.
2 The increase is a question not of numbers but of behaviour. Deer without predators around will affect the delivery of top-down plans such as EMP's and SMP's. Who's wrong, the deer or the plans?
3 It's a pretty poor reflection if management that is supposed to prioritise wildlife has to resort to shooting wildlife.
4 Before the kneejerk reaction of reaching for the gun, à la wild west,  lots of time and thought should go into creative thinking of alternatives. Problems quoted are that many deer keep returning to the same place and prevent regeneration of 'desirable' vegetation. Deer can be moved around. We've seen dogs affect movement of deer, usually fairly benignly. That shows it can be done.
5 If this is done once then it becomes established that this is the first and easy option.
6 We have a dearth of top predators around. It's time to plan for the return of some of those that have been persecuted to extinction. They have a vital role in wild landscapes and do the job much better than humans in keeping herbivores like deer on the move.
7 What about the cows? Why do we keep seeing cattle on the moors?
8 Whose deer are they, anyway?
9 Can we rely on what the local conservation people tell us? My reading of SRWT's documents reveals errors everywhere. At a conference just one year before this decision the top RSPB man in the Peak area insisted there were nowhere near enough deer on the Eastern Moors!

May be added to  ...............