General News
23 February, 2025
Grampians bushfires offer a 'golden opportunity' to eliminate a pest species
Deer eradication, rather than control, now possible: specialist.
Recent bushfires have given the government its best chance to permanently eliminate feral deer in parts of the state, according to a specialist seeking to reduce animal numbers.
Victorian Deer Control Community Network (VDCCN) executive officer Peter Jacobs said the Grampians and Little Desert National Park fires had burnt the tree canopy, making it easier to see deer from the air.
New aerial shooting techniques meant it was an optimal time to eliminate the pest species in both regions.
"It also takes the pressure of farmers who abut the Grampians National Park and Little Desert National Park that have deer coming onto their properties from public land," Mr Jacobs said.
A coalition of community groups and individuals had written to the Environment and Agriculture Ministers, proposing the government take the opportunity to eradicate deer.
"Rather than having control programs, we are saying, actually get in there and eliminate them," he said
"It's much cheaper, in the long term, to eliminate a pest species and prevent them coming back than just controlling them year after year after year - we reckon there is a good opportunity to do something there.
Tasmania and Victoria remain the last two states that treat deer as a hunting resource instead of managing them as a pest species.
High deer numbers in the northwest continue to pose a challenge for farmers in the region.
In 2023, the Game Management Authority revealed Sambar and Fallow deer were the most sought-after species.
However, those affected most say that lifting the status of deer as a game species was unlikely to help control the animals.
Sheep and wine producers Tom and Sarah Guthrie have land bordering the Grampians.
Mr Guthrie agreed that it was a "golden opportunity" to eliminate deer from the national park.
He said the entire state had been mapped, showing areas where deer could be eradicated, and others, such as the north-east, where the animals could only be controlled.
Getting rid of them altogether, in some areas, wasn't practical.
"The Grampians National Park is an island park, so it's therefore feasible to have that as an aim to eradicate deer - here is a golden opportunity with two-thirds of the park, including 90 per cent of our farm, scorched."
"They are difficult to eradicate at the best of times, despite the fact shooters have shot 60 deer a year on our farm, which neighbours or farm.
"So how many deer are encroaching on neighbouring farms? There would be hundreds of them."
He said farmers were "doing their bit to knock them over, but at the end of the day, the biggest population is in the park".
The complication with deer was conflicting legislation.
"You have one act, the National Parks Act of 1975, which classifies all non-native animals as pests; that's a good piece of legislation.
"It's conflicted by the Wildlife Act of 1893, which protects all native wildlife plus deer to satisfy our Upper House deer shooting members from the 1890s.
"It's a ludicrous priority that state parliamentarians don't put high up enough on their list to do anything about."
Mr Jacobs said that after the Kangaroo Island, SA fires, authorities took the opportunity to eradicate the feral pigs that had not been killed in the blazes.
He said an open letter was sent to the Environment and Agriculture Ministers by 130 organisations and individuals to remove deer from the Wildlife Act last year.
"We haven't heard much about that," he said.
The Wildlife Act was reviewed in 2021, but no concrete action had been taken since he said.
"They have yet to release any information in response to that consultation they went through. They set up a panel that released a consultation report. Still, the government has never released their response to that or indicated what they are going to do around a whole raft of issues, in particular the issue around the protection of deer".
He said it would help the community better understand "the pest that they are" and provide further funding for their control.
The government's response seemed to be "they want to make sure they are doing a good job - they are taking their time to do a good job, that's pretty much what we are hearing from them at the moment."
A Victorian government spokesperson said there were no plans to change the classification of deer.
They were unprotected on private land, except for hog deer, meaning landholders could control them without authorisation, subject to conditions.
"The classification of deer as game does not prevent the ability to control them," the spokesperson said.
"We're rolling out $18.25 million of investment through the Victorian Deer Control Program to reduce their impact on native habitat, biodiversity and agriculture.
"We're working with local communities and experts to develop this strategy, which not only protects our environment from the impacts of feral deer but also increases public safety."